Hazards of Deviation
by PinkFreud
Summary: Sequel to 'Hazards of Imagination.' Darcy Lewis knows that living and working with Loki has its dangers and its advantages. But mostly advantages. And besides, she never minded a little bit of danger. Now they have a new assignment, as well as new kinks to explore. Also, Darcy is writing another story. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

A peculiar, pleasant feeling overcame Loki as he hovered on the edges of a dream, a rush of heat and tension in his lower body. Whatever it was, it was lovely. He was pulled from sleep, though, as it increased to urgent bliss and he realized what was happening. He opened his eyes to see early morning light sliding in through the window of Darcy Lewis' bedroom. Looking down, he lifted the covers to see a lovely naked brunette, her mouth fastened around his cock, eagerly sucking. ''What are you doing?'' he asked.

She released him for a moment. ''Isn't it obvious?'' she asked with a raised eyebrow.

''Fine then, carry on.'' He wasn't going to argue.

Darcy had woken up feeling rather frisky—at first she'd contented herself with trailing her fingers along Loki's skin—it began innocently enough, the stroke of her fingers over the sculpted planes of his pale face, but then she drifted down his torso and then lower still. She liked this particular part. She wrapped her hand around it lightly, gently, then felt it begin to thicken and harden. She kept going, feeling his body shift, a light murmur escaping his lips.

Hands weren't good enough, anymore, she'd decided. She slid down and wrapped her lips around him, pulling the blankets up over her head, the warmth a juxtaposition to his cool skin against her tongue. Slow, and then more quickly, a changing rhythm. The muscles in the cavern of her throat relaxed, and took as much of that considerable length as she was able. It felt strangely good being filled like this, having him that deep. She felt an insistent throb between her legs, refusing to be ignored, and so she snaked her hand down, finding her clit. She moved, bobbing her head, sucking harder while she touched herself, amazed that giving a blow job could make her so wet. But really, she shouldn't be surprised at much, anymore.

That was when he'd woken too, lifted the covers and peered down at her. Now he reached and grabbed her hair. ''Wait,'' he said.

''What?''

''I want to taste you, too.''

Smiling, Darcy got up and situated her naked body over his so that they were in the 69 position. She slipped him back into her mouth and resumed her ministrations. Loki let out a small moan as his lips found her, she was silky and hot and drenched, absolutely delicious. He'd never get tired of her unique taste. She wriggled on top of him, rubbing her pussy against his mouth, urging him on. He flicked her harder with his tongue, sucking at that swollen little nub of flesh. Her body jolted and he felt her sigh. The vibration made his cock twitch, and then he lost control.

She knew when he was about to come. Darcy always knew. She was right on the edge herself, and then he did that thing, that thing that made shockwaves of bliss start in her clit and then radiate out. She could taste him on her tongue, then, felt spurt after spurt—he always came hard and there was always a lot. Something about the feeling, the way that it spilled into her mouth, it was exciting in a very primal way. She'd never liked swallowing before she met him; now she couldn't get enough, she wanted every drop.

When her legs stopped shaking, she climbed off of him and then turned herself around and curled up against his chest. ''Good morning,'' she told him with a cheeky smile.

''Indeed it is,'' he replied, voice slightly breathless.

Darcy yawned and stretched,''We should probably get ready,'' she said. ''We've gotta get to work.''

At this, Loki frowned deeply, almost scowling.

''What's that face for?'' she asked.

He rolled over and mumbled something unintelligible. She pounced on him, demanding, ''Hey, talk to me!''

Loki didn't want to tell her that it was because their assignment together was over and now his work would be meaningless and dreary again. All things considered, it shouldn't upset him that much—he was living with her after all, they got to spend a great deal of time together. But there had been something so electric that happened between them when they were partnered, it made him feel...alive. His mind worked more quickly, he was energized. He didn't hate his job, in fact, it felt like he was contributing something worthwhile. Now, she would be sent back downstairs to file papers and enter data and make charts and graphs and coffee. And he would go back to his indentured servitude.

Darcy decided to give up for now. ''Kay, well, when you want to talk about it, I'll listen,'' she said, patting him on the shoulder. ''I'm going to take a shower.''

For her part, she tried to remain in a positive mood as they went into work that day, though she too was quite anxious. As soon as they entered the building, Natasha Romanov appeared seemingly from thin air, the way she always did, to summon her and Loki to Nick Fury's office. Darcy sighed inwardly, assuming that this was to be some form of de-briefing before she was sent back downstairs.

''They're breaking up the band,'' she joked lamely, remembering a silly conversation they'd had about starting a two-piece band in which she would play the tambourine. Loki gave her a faint, tight smile in response. When they entered the Director's office, Fury motioned for them both to sit down. He eyed them for a long silent moment, then began. ''Dr. Foster has recently decided to remain in New Mexico for the time being. She feels that she is able to conduct some important research there, and I agree. She will still technically be a SHIELD employee and will periodically be in contact, sending us data.''

Darcy's heart turned over roughly. If Jane was staying in New Mexico, she would surely have to go there too, right? She was the scientists' assistant, she needed to be there to...assist.

''Ms. Lewis,'' Fury turned his eye to her, ''You have proven yourself to be quite competent during this last assignment. And frankly, you're the first person who has managed to work well with Loki. Dr. Foster did request for you to be transferred to New Mexico...a request which I have denied.''

She let out a breath and gave the director a look of astonishment. ''I've no idea why, but this partnership of yours,'' Fury continued, gesturing to the two of them, ''seems to be a good thing. You both think outside the box and bring something unique to the table,'' he admitted grudgingly. ''So, rather than separate you, I've decided that for the time being I want you and Loki to remain as partners, in our investigative division.''

''What is that?'' Darcy asked, still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that they weren't being split up. ''I mean, what sort of work will we be doing?''

''Essentially, when certain matters come to our attention, they go through a screening process, to determine whether they warrant our involvement,'' explained Fury. ''If it appears that they do, then they are passed along to the investigative division. Your job will be to dig deeper into these matters, evaluating risk level as well as suggesting— _suggesting_ ,'' he reiterated firmly, ''a course of action before passing the case along to the necessary personnel for closure or further review. You are working in an _investigative capacity_ only.'' He seemed to feel the need to hammer this point home. ''You gather information and then you pass it up to us. You do not make any executive decisions. Is that clear?''

They both nodded. ''Good,'' he said, seeming satisfied. As satisfied as he could seem, anyhow. ''You start tomorrow. Temporarily, you're just going to have to use the same office you're in now. Due to renovations, we don't have another available right now. You are dismissed.'' Fury waved them away.

Darcy waited until they were safely out of the room and halfway down the hall before she pumped her fist in the air and allowed herself the satisfaction of a happy-dance. ''Yes! Dude, this is awesome!'' She grabbed Loki by the arm. ''See, everything worked out fine.''

It had, in fact. Loki was still trying to figure out exactly how. Good things didn't usually happen to him. Maybe she was changing his luck. Well, now that was a sentimental thought.

* * *

Though he remained outwardly stoic, Darcy knew that Loki was very pleased with the new arrangements. Since they had arrived home, he couldn't seem to keep his hands to himself. Normally, she wouldn't mind this at all, but there was one more conversation that she had to get through before the day was over, and she knew it might take a bit of energy.

The god stood behind her, kissing her neck while his hand searched eagerly up under her shirt. Darcy elbowed him in the ribs. ''Stop messing around,'' she chastised, even though she was melting beneath his touch. ''Jane's going to call me in a few minutes.''

''So? Jane can wait.''

''No, she can't, she's super busy.''

''Hmmm, but so are we,'' he said, easing down the zipper on her pants and sliding his fingers beneath her underwear. She buckled slightly. ''Oh, god.''

''Yes?'' he grinned, gently rubbing her clit. Just then the phone rang. Darcy groaned as she reached over and picked it up. ''Hey, Jane,'' she managed. Loki, however, was not deterred. He pulled his fingers away, leaving her feeling a mix of both relief and frustration. Then he slowly moved around the front of her. She definitely did not trust that look simmering in his eyes.

''Hey!'' replied the scientist, sounding quite full of caffeine, ''How are you? I can't believe that they're keeping you there! I mean, I know that it's a good opportunity and everything but I still worry. Not that I don't think that you're perfectly capable of handling yourself-''

By this point in Jane's rant, Loki had slid down onto his knees and was working Darcy's pants down over her hips. She shot him a warning look and he merely grinned at her again.

''—But it's a lot to take on. What exactly are you going to be doing, anyhow?''

Darcy stammered as his mouth found her. ''I, uh, investigative...whatnot.''

''Investigative whatnot?'' Jane echoed doubtfully.

''Yeah, uh, you know, we get cases and go out to the...'' He sucked at her clit then flicked it with his tongue. Bastard. ''—to where they are, and see what...needs to happen.'' _I'm going to kill him_ , she thought to herself. _But later_. She couldn't help it, she bucked forward, pressing herself against him, urging him on.

''Uh-huh. And who is 'we'?''

''Me and...my partner.''

''Who is your partner?'' Jane asked cautiously, as if she were dreading the answer. ''You're not still working with _Loki_ , are you? That was just a one-time thing, right?''

His tongue lapped at her opening, tasting her. Darcy clutched at his head, trying desperately to stay on her feet. She could feel an orgasm fast approaching and figured that she'd better wrap up this call as fast as possible.

''Look, it's kinda co—omplicated,'' her voice wavered as he discovered a particularly sensitive area, ''I'll tell you all about it, I promise, but I'm not really...feeling well right now.''

''Yeah, you do sound weird, but I just-''

''I'm gonna let you go, I'm sure that you're busy and I need to rest, I promise we'll talk soon, byee!'' Darcy spoke in a mad rush then hung up and tossed the phone aside, pulling on Loki's hair and grinding shamelessly on his lips. ''You're gonna pay for that,'' she hissed.

In reply, while steadying her with one arm, he pulled his mouth away and replaced his tongue with two of his fingers. ''Is that a threat?'' he asked, arching a brow.

''A promise,'' she told him.

''I don't think that you're in any position to be making threats, or promises for that matter. You're quite vulnerable right now,'' he said, stroking her slow, then quick-quick, then slow again.

''Oh, _fuck_ ,'' she groaned.

''That's my good girl,'' he praised in a low, dark voice. ''You're soaked. I can feel you, you're about to come all over my fingers.'' Darcy's eyes practically crossed as her muscles tensed. Then, maddeningly, he stopped, right when she was on the very edge of climax. Loki got up quickly and moved until he was sitting on the nearby couch, then grabbed her and brought her down across his knees. Her head roared as his palm made contact with her ass, the sting deliciously sweet, sending a jolt right to her aching pussy. _One_. Pure white heat seared through her as she was kept hanging on the periphery, her orgasm inches away. Darcy was learning to love this strange edge of pleasure-pain. She could feel wetness trickling down her thigh. _Two_. She was pushed even further, so close, but still not allowed to get there. Begging usually did the trick.

''Please, my lord, please let me come!'' _Three._

''Do I have your full attention now?'' he asked roughly.

''Yes, my lord!''

''Who gives you what you need?''

''You, my lord,'' she gasped out. There was something so arousing about this sort of little game, she couldn't quite define exactly what it was, but it set her body on fire the same way it did his.

''That's right,'' he said, holding her still as he pushed three fingers deep inside of her, curling them at just the perfect angle. Darcy spasmed, waves of searing bliss pulsing. Yes, yes, yes, screamed her heart.

Loki gently stroked her back while she came down from it, and when she finally stilled he lifted her and she curled against him, sated. _This has been a good day_ , she thought.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, at work, Darcy was standing on a chair to hang a poster on the wall of their office. Jane had never let her hang it up in the astrophysics department, and she'd been eagerly awaiting an opportunity. Loki looked over with curiosity as she climbed down and he saw that it was a large and rather blurry image of a flying saucer and the words ''I WANT TO BELIEVE''. He gave her a crooked look. ''Surely you can't be serious.''

''I am serious, and don't call me Shirley!'' she replied, then cackled with laughter. ''Come on, you walked _right into_ that one!'' She doubted that he got the reference, somehow he didn't seem like the type of guy who would watch _Airplane!_ She would have to fix that. Left to his own devices Loki watched depressing documentaries about things like dolphins and global warming and the Chinese oppression of Tibet. He seemed fascinated by the terrible things that humans did to each other and to the planet, and Darcy wanted him to spend more time appreciating the subtle beauty that humans could create. Things like _Monty Python_ or _Animal House_.

''You're giddy,'' he noted.

''I'm just happy is all.'' Darcy unwrapped a Twix and then bit into it.

''High on sugar, you mean,'' corrected Loki, though it was nice to see her smiling so much.

''The sugar might be a very small contributing factor,'' she admitted.

''Put it in the report.''

''Ha! You know, the only think I dislike about this gig is the paperwork,'' Darcy related, chewing thoughtfully. ''Writing the reports, filing the reports...I still don't get why they need so many hard copies of everything.''

''In case of a massive network failure, or if an electromagnetic pulse weapon is deployed. And I thought that you were a writer,'' he countered, folding his hands.

''I am. But I write _erotic fiction_. Those reports aren't exactly sexy.''

Loki contemplated this. ''Well, you could spice them up a bit,'' he suggested. ''Use some inventive language.'' Fury would surely love that, he reckoned.

''Hmm...'' Darcy seemed doubtful but shrugged. ''Ok, I'll give it a try.''

''And who's to say our assignments won't be...titillating. The last one certainly was.''

''True,'' she sighed, tossing the wrapper into a nearby wastebasket. ''But you know what they say, lightning never strikes twice.''

''Now that's just a lie.''

''Oh, yeah. Well, we might as well see what we've got.'' She sat down in her chair and took a sip of coffee.

''There are three files here,'' Loki said, pulling a small stack of folders from his desk. ''One of them is marked 'priority urgent' so I suppose we ought to look at that one first.'' He flipped it open, quickly scanned over the page, then frowned and rolled his eyes, handing it over to Darcy. ''What a bore.''

''You don't know that.'' She accepted it from him and then read the case summary herself. ''Ok, this is really boring,'' she conceded. ''Must be a slow week if this is urgent priority.''

The case in question involved a restaurant, of all things, in a small Maine town. Certain of the staff had experienced strange injuries. ''Hey, wait, this is interesting,'' Darcy trailed her finger down the page. ''Two cooks developed radiation burns while working there. They must have been using one hell of an oven...and then a server suffered acute psychosis and needed to be temporarily committed.'' She looked over at Loki. ''Maybe they were exposed to some sort of toxin? Definitely could be a threat to the general population. Especially at a restaurant, eww.''

Loki didn't seem overly impressed. ''Perhaps this is a matter for the Health Department, then?''

''Well, duh, they were already there, they passed it up to us. The investigation was 'inconclusive' but they felt that it needed another look.''

''Someone isn't doing their job, then,'' he scoffed dismissively.

''That's why we're here,'' Darcy said with a glowing smile, closing the folder.

* * *

When they returned home that night, Loki sat on the couch with his tablet, searching for images of Maine. He'd never been there before, and he wanted to know what he was getting into. Something about the rocky coastline and the ocean unsettled him, though apparently many people seemed to find it beautiful. ''I don't want to go there,'' he announced to Darcy, who was rubbing lotion onto her arms. ''Too much seafood.'' He eyed her approvingly; she was dressed in black yoga pants and a tank top that displayed her curvy figure.

She gave him an odd look and set the bottle of lotion down on the table. ''What? Are you allergic to shellfish or something? Do Frost Giants even _have_ allergies?''

''I don't like them,'' he mumbled quietly.

''What?''

Loki cleared his throat. ''I don't like them.''

''You don't like shellfish?'' Darcy was trying to make sense of this new development. ''Like crabs and shrimps and lobsters?''

He nodded and made a disgusted face.

''Why?''

''I just don't. They're bizarre looking. Freakish, dirty, beady-eyed sea insects.''

Her face split into a wide grin. ''You're afraid of crustaceans. That is _awesome_.''

''I'm not. They're just revolting. With their...antennae...''

She laughed loudly. ''Have you seen yourself in that dumb helmet of yours? You look like you've got antennas too.''

''Those are _horns_ ,'' Loki corrected, somewhat defensively. ''And you've never seen me in it.''

''Oh, horns, how manly and virile.'' Darcy pretended to swoon. ''And yes, I have, by the way.''

''When?''

''I've googled you.''

''Yes, you've certainly done that.''

She rolled her eyes. ''I mean, I looked for pictures of you on the internet.''

''I know what it means. I was being cheeky.''

''Still, it's a dumb helmet,'' she said decisively. Darcy didn't completely feel that way, yet she wanted to make a point. ''And you shouldn't be hating on lobsters and stuff, they're really good.''

''I'm tired of talking about this,'' Loki announced, putting the tablet aside and motioning her over. She smirked and climbed onto the couch so that she was facing him, straddling his lap. ''Admit it,'' she said, stroking a finger along his neck, ''you're secretly excited.''

''Oh, I am definitely excited, but not about Maine.'' He bucked against her suggestively. ''Though I'll admit, I don't mind your...giddiness about it. You're quite pretty when you're happy.'' Loki wondered if he wasn't going a little mad recently, with all of this sentimental drivel that seemed to be pouring out of him unchecked. He decided that he would have to keep an eye on that particular tendency.

''Aww, thank you. Well, that's not the only reason I'm happy,'' Darcy said, leaning closer. The flowery smell of her lotion made him pleasantly dizzy, it mixed with the heat of her skin and created an intoxicating scent that was uniquely her, and quite the aphrodisiac.

He smiled. ''It's not?''

''No. I'm starting a new story!'' she bounced lightly on him in excitement, not unaware of the rapidly growing hardness underneath her.

''Marvellous. Keep doing that while you tell me all about it.'' He reached around to smack her on the ass.

''Ok,'' Darcy began as she pulled her shirt over her head. ''It's going to be about Violet and Mr. Lamont again because I think they're good together.''

''They are,'' Loki agreed, watching with rapt attention as her breasts were revealed.

''And I want them to solve more mysteries. Plus, you know, they still have to explore their relationship.''

''Mmm-hmm,'' he breathed, leaning forward and closing his mouth over her hardened nipple. Darcy buried her fingertips in his hair and wriggled against him again as heat flooded between her legs.

''So many things, you know...to explore,'' she trailed off.

Loki stood, lifting her with him, carrying her into the bedroom where he gently deposited her on the bed. Then he pulled open the drawer of her nightstand, the drawer where Darcy kept all of her naughty toys. She quickly wiggled out of her pants and flung them in the direction of the clothes hamper, missing it. ''Whatcha doing?'' she asked, propping herself up on her elbow as she looked at Loki. He was wearing too many clothes, she concluded.

''Just looking,'' he replied, sifting through the selections before pulling out a decently sized bright green vibrating dildo. ''That used to be my favourite,'' she admitted.

''Really?'' he said, switching it on. It began to buzz. She was frankly amazed that the batteries still worked. She wondered what he was planning this time. Loki sat down on the bed. Darcy turned over and scooted up a little bit. ''Let's see if it's still your favourite.''

''You want me to use it?'' she asked, intrigued. She'd touched herself in front of him before, but she'd only used her fingers.

''No, I want to use it. On you.''

Darcy raised an eyebrow. ''Okay then.'' Less work for me, she thought. Loki brought the toy up so that the tip was touching her lips. The vibration radiated all through her head. ''Suck on it,'' he instructed, his voice lowering. She hadn't done that before, but she complied. It had a weird plastic taste and made her teeth practically dance around in her skull. Still, there was something very sexy about the way he was watching her, so she tried her best, running her tongue along the length.

He seemed satisfied and pulled it out of her mouth, running it down between her breasts, leaving a trail of saliva. It inched lower, down over her belly and then further south. ''Open your legs,'' he said, and she complied eagerly, displaying herself for him, knowing that he could definitely see how wet she was. This always made him very excited. She bit her lip as he teased it over the bud of her clit, jolting at little at the stimulation against her sensitive flesh. ''Too much?'' Loki asked.

''No, no,'' she assured him, ''it's good, keep going.''

''You want it inside?''

She nodded wildly and he gently nudged the tip in, then more. He pulled it out and then pushed it in again further, back and forth, watching with fascination and lust as the bright length disappeared up inside of her body. Darcy's hands fisted in the sheets, her hips bucking. The image of her alone in bed, doing this to herself flooded Loki's mind, an enticing image to be sure. But for some reason, doing it to her really turned him on. He started fucking her with it, slowly at first and then harder, the way he would do if it was his cock.

He was definitely better at this than she was, Darcy realized. She'd always been too easy on herself, so to speak, her motions languid and lazy. She'd learned recently how much she wanted fast, hard, intense. ''I know you like that,'' he growled. ''You just love a good fucking, don't you, you insatiable little slut.''

She'd never thought that she'd ever like being called a slut. Generally, Darcy disliked the word; it was a shaming word, an insult. But not like this. Not from him. Because this wasn't about shame. And yes, right now, she supposed that she was a slut, in the best way possible—she absolutely could not get enough of what he did to her, he made her feel nasty, wild, deviant.

''You know I do,'' she whispered. ''You know I need it bad.'' She grabbed Loki's hand, stilling the motions. ''I need your cock right now.''

Heat flared brightly in his eyes and the sex toy was quickly discarded as he pinned her down on the bed, pulling his erection from his pants and ramming into her. A loud, throaty moan tore from Darcy's chest. ''That's it, baby, that's what I need.''

He pressed her wrists roughly into the mattress above her head, trapping her. This was her secret delight, something that she was coming to crave. She loved being held down, loved the feeling of him on top of her, claiming her. It made her feel safe and strong and alive. It hadn't made sense at first, but the things that they were exploring together gave her what she had been missing, what she'd been wanting without realizing it. She often wondered what else she was missing, what other desires might yet be uncovered. And did she want to know? Did she want to find out just how much of a deviant she really was?


	3. Chapter 3

They were going to be leaving for Maine the next morning. Most of Darcy's stuff was already packed, and so she pulled out her laptop to do some writing. Staring at the screen, she chewed her lip thoughtfully. She was working on a particularly naughty scene, and she knew the basics of what it would entail, but the setting wasn't fully fleshed out yet; she couldn't decide between two equally attractive options. ''Do you like the opera?'' she asked Loki, who was sitting on the couch reading a biography of Aleister Crowley.

He looked over at her. ''Why? Are we going?''

''Nope, I just wondered.''

Interest now piqued, Loki watched as Darcy's fingers flew over the keyboard. She seemed to be very much 'in the zone' as she called it, writing nonstop for quite some time, humming to herself and only pausing to take sips of wine from the glass beside her. He had to admire her dedication. Finally, she stopped and stretched her arms, shutting the computer. ''I'm gonna go finish packing,'' she said with a yawn.

When she departed, he saw his opportunity, and he took it. Grabbing her laptop, Loki opened it and quickly located the document that Darcy had been working on.

 _After their last adventure, their superiors decided that she and Mr. Lamont worked well together, and so they were paired for another assignment. This time, they'd been instructed to follow the shadowy Dr. Montpelier, who may or may not have been devising a lethal poison in his laboratories, one that he would sell without conscience to whomever paid the largest sum. Suspected arch-villain or not, Montpelier was a surprisingly dull person to follow. And, unfortunately, he was also a fan of opera._

 _Now as she and Lamont were sequestered in a private box, Violet surreptitiously peered at Dr. Montpelier through her opera glasses. The beady-eyed chemist was seated in another box across the way, seeming enraptured by the music. She sighed, and then looked down at the performers below, trying not to die of boredom. Violet knew that opera was supposed to be awe-inspiring, but all it had inspired in her so far was a headache. Mr. Lamont seemed interested enough, at least she thought that he was until he slowly reached over and took her hand in his, then brought it between his legs. Her eyes flew to him as she felt the hard bulge under her fingers. ''You cannot be serious,'' she whispered, colour flooding her cheeks. ''Here?''_

 _''Nobody is going to see, we're alone in here, and besides, everyone is preoccupied,'' he reassured her. Violet didn't want to admit it, but the feeling of touching him, even through clothes, was making her heart pound. He throbbed. ''Take it out,'' he urged her._

 _She bit her lip, hesitating. ''I'm not sure...''_

 _''Come on, you know you're just as bored by all this wailing as I am, let's have a little fun.''_

 _''Oh, alright,'' she said, darting a quick glance around before working at the front of his pants until they were undone and she had his full, turgid length in her hand_.

Fine word, turgid, Loki thought to himself, then continued reading,

 _Liquid heat pooled between her legs at the sight and feel. Lamont placed his hand over hers and guided it up and down, helping her touch him. Violet then had a very wicked certain again that everyone's focus was still on the performance, which had hit yet another dramatic peak, she used her other hand to 'accidentally' drop her opera glasses. Then she ducked down. ''Let me know if anyone's coming.''_

 _''Oh, I'm sure you'll know,'' Lamont quipped. Violet glared and then closed her mouth over him_.

Loki chuckled. 'Violet, you naughty little thing, I've missed you.' He'd grown quite fond of the character, especially because he knew that she was a very thinly disguised version of Darcy herself.

 _The music flooded all around, and she found herself moving her head in time to it. Just then, there came footsteps, a rustling as people walked past the curtain across the enterance to their opera box. Violet felt Lamont turn to look, and then she heard the footsteps retreat. ''It's fine,'' he whispered. ''They're gone.''_

 _As her heart rate lowered, Violet entertained what might have happened if someone would have walked in and caught her in such a precarious position, so unladylike, down on her knees. Without realizing it, she began to suck him even more voraciously as she imagined this, her sex tingling from all of these strange ideas._

 _''Oh, you like the thought that someone could come in at any moment,'' Lamont murmured to her in a rough voice, his fingers finding their way into her hair. ''Walk in and see you with my cock in your pretty mouth, watch you devouring me, see what a little whore you are.''_

 _Violet couldn't help it, she was spurred on by his words, full of shame and excitement at the realization that they were true, that she did secretly want to be discovered in such a state..._

* * *

Loki was delighted. He'd always wondered if Darcy had some exhibitionist tendencies, and this was confirming it. Though he encouraged her to be honest with him about her fantasies, he knew that it was often easier for her to first put them into writing. This was why he made it a point to read her writing whenever possible, so that he could know what was going on in that funny little head of hers. Loki was almost certain that Darcy knew he was doing this, she didn't exactly hide her stories the way that she used to.

Now it seemed like she was entertaining the thrill of potentially getting caught in a compromising position. He could certainly work with this, he thought. It wasn't as though he didn't have a similar proclivity, the thought of fucking her in a place where they might be discovered made his cock harden immediately.

''What time is the flight?'' Darcy's voice came from the bedroom. He closed the laptop and got up, walking down the hall. ''Eight-thirty,'' he replied as he entered the room, where it looked like a hurricane had whipped through. ''What are you packing?'' Loki asked.

''Clothes, iPad, laptop, the usual,'' she replied, trying to cram a pair of tall faux leather boots into the suitcase. He liked those boots, especially when she wore them with that short plaid skirt and the low cut red blouse. He hoped that those were in the suitcase too.

''I mean, in terms of...other things, in case we should need time to relax,'' he elaborated.

Darcy got the drift. ''It's a surprise,'' she told him. So far, she had already packed the riding crop, the silk ties that he used to bind her wrists, the dildo from the previous night, since that had gone over well, and a few other things. Loki grinned and climbed onto the bed, stretching out. ''By the way,'' he said, ''the opera sounds like a fine idea.''

She groaned aloud. But inside she was smiling.

* * *

The flight was a relatively short one, and as they left the airport and walked to their rental car, Darcy took a deep breath, letting the fresh air fill her lungs. She'd never been to Maine before, just other parts of New England. She was glad that they were on the coast, near the ocean. She liked the quaint charm that this particular area of the country had. They were in Hancock County, not far from Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park, which was supposed to have some incredible scenery. There were even _puffins_ there, she had read. Darcy was hoping that in between investigating potential threats to the earth they might also have time to go to the beach. And see puffins.

Her stomach growled as she took the last few sips of coffee from a paper cup, reminding her that she hadn't eaten in several hours. Darcy had also decided that she was going to order shellfish whenever she could during the trip, just to mess with Loki. She so rarely got an opportunity to do so, she was going to take advantage of it, now that she had learned one of his apparent weaknesses.

She pressed a button on the car door to lower the window. ''I can smell the ocean,'' she said. He rolled it back up. ''I know. It's nauseating.''

''There is nothing nauseating about some nice sea air,'' Darcy told him, rolling it back down. ''Dude, what is your problem with the ocean?''

Loki didn't answer the question, but he gave up and let her keep the window down. Her hair ruffled in the breeze. After a short while, they reached the small hotel where they would be staying; it was a tall, grey colonial style building with a nautically themed interior design. He shuddered to himself as they entered, wondering if he would have to endure this sort of thing everywhere they went. Once they checked in and arrived at their room, Darcy threw her suitcase on the bed and said, ''Ok, let's go.''

''Go where?''

''To the _restaurant_ , the one that we're supposed to be investigating. It's lunchtime, maybe we'll be able to talk to some locals and see if they know anything.''

''Wait, you mean this place is still open?'' Loki asked, aghast. ''Still serving _food_? How?''

Darcy peered at her reflection in the antique mirror and reapplied lip gloss as she spoke. ''I told you, the Health Department's investigation was inconclusive. They suspected something weird was going on, but they didn't have enough evidence to shut it down.''

''You would think that radiation burns would be more than enough,'' he said.

''You didn't finish reading the report,'' she sighed, running her fingers through her hair, which had gotten a little mussed from the open window during the drive. ''I'm so disappointed in you. They closed it down for a few days, called the authorities, some special team went in with geiger counters and all kinds of other gear, and found no traces of radiation, or anything else harmful really, except for some expired salad dressing.''

''And yet it was confirmed that these two cooks indeed suffered radiation burns?''

She nodded. ''You see the conundrum?''

''As I said before, I see that somewhere along the line, someone didn't do their job correctly.''

''Well, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. Now let's get going, I want to solve this thing so we can see the ocean.''

He groaned.

When they walked into the restaurant, it seemed pleasant and unextraordinary. The spacious interior was old fashioned, with wood furnishings and a long elegant wooden bar. In the corner, a jukebox was blaring a Hank Williams song. ''C'mon, let's get a table, I'm starving,'' Darcy said. Noting the sign that said 'Please seat yourself,' she plunked herself down at a small table by one of the windows.

''You seriously want to eat here?'' Loki asked in dismay.

''Yes. We need to blend in. Besides, my stomach is about to consume itself.'

He sighed and sat down across from her, somewhat reluctantly. ''Fine, but if you come down with radiation poisoning, don't blame me.''

''I'm going to be brave, like Gordon Ramsey,'' she told him, picking up a menu.

''I need a drink,'' he decided aloud.

A young waiter soon came over to take their order. Darcy blinked prettily at him. ''Do you have lobster here?'' she asked, even though she had seen in the menu that they did.

''Yes, ma'am,'' he replied with a nod. ''Fresh Maine lobster, some of the very best in the whole state.''

She beamed. ''Excellent, I will have one of those.''

''Alright. And for you, sir?'' the waiter asked, turning to Loki.

''I'll just have a scotch on the rocks.''

''Very good.''

Darcy glared at him as their server departed. ''Just 'scotch on the rocks'? You Tony Stark now?''

He shrugged. ''I don't like anything on the menu.''

''Just get a fucking _salad_ or something.''

''I don't like salad.''

She huffed in exasperation. ''Yes, you do, you're just being difficult.''

''The dressing was expired, you said so yourself. The lettuce might be about to turn as well.''

An older woman at the next table over smiled at them. ''How long have you two been married?'' she asked. Darcy found herself in a rather ornery and mischievous mood at present, and so she replied, ''A little over a year.''

''Ah, you're still in the honeymoon phase. They only get more fussy as time goes on,'' she added, with a knowing glance over at Loki. Then she patted Darcy on the shoulder before turning away.

''I have to be _married_ to you now?'' he demanded in a whisper.

''Yes, for the next hour or so at least. Suck it up,'' Darcy looked around. It was quite a charming little place, she thought to herself. She really hoped that it wasn't secretly a hotbed of dangerous criminal activity. Then she realized something. ''Hey, this is the first time that you and me have been to a restaurant together,'' she said.

''We went out to get coffee several times.''

She shook her head at him. ''Not the same thing at all. This is like, a thing that normal people do. Go out to eat together, like on a date.''

''This is not a date, it is an assignment.''

''That doesn't mean we can't enjoy it,'' she insisted. She knew that the discussion was making him a little uncomfortable, and she enjoyed this immensely. ''Come on, what's so terrible about being on a _date_ with me?''

Nothing was terrible about it, he knew. But he also knew that they were not normal people. They did have something between them, something that was becoming very powerful, but he didn't know how to define it. They lived together and worked together and had a very exciting sex life. But they certainly didn't _date_.

''You order things like that,'' he said, in answer to her question, nodding towards the waiter who had returned bearing a large plate.

''Ooh, there's my lobster!'' Darcy exclaimed in delight, rubbing her hands together as it was set before her.

It then occurred to Darcy that she'd never actually eaten lobster before. But she wasn't going to back down. She'd seen people do it on TV. Taking hold of one of the claws, she twisted it. A spray of what she assumed was lobster juice hit her in the face.

Loki cackled gleefully. ''Now you know how I feel sometimes,'' he said. In response, she attacked him with the severed claw. He ducked away, astonished to find that he was actually starting to enjoy this. He had forgotten how much fun it was to work with Darcy, to see her get all wound up about things. And to see her struggle to eat lobster just to bother him. It was an absolutely disgusting creature, but it was almost bearable to behold under the circumstances. She just looked so comical, trying to pry the meat out of the shell. He doubted that she even really liked the taste, she was certainly making some very strange faces.

''How is it?'' he asked her with a raised eyebrow.

''Delicious,'' she answered firmly, even though she would have preferred a chicken sandwich. This thing was just too exhausting. There were certain parts of it that she doubted were even edible. And Loki was right, it was pretty gross-looking, laying sadly on the plate in front of her, half-mutilated. She needed a drink.

After she ate as much of her meal as she could manage, they moved from the table to the bar, for investigative purposes. Darcy figured that chatting up some of the locals or the bartender might give them insight into what was going on at the restaurant. The older woman from earlier had migrated there as well, and was sitting on a stool drinking a whisky sour.

''Your husband is very handsome, dear,'' she remarked quietly to Darcy. ''Is he English?''

Stirring her vodka cranberry with a straw, Darcy replied, ''Uh, yeah, he is.''

''How marvellous! I've always loved Englishmen. Whereabouts in England is he from?''

''Oxford,'' she lied quickly. ''Like, uh, Radiohead.''

The woman nodded. ''I'm Myrna, by the way.''

''Felicia,'' Darcy said, thinking on the spot. ''Felicia Neville.''

Beside her, she heard Loki give a snort, heard the ice rattle in his glass as he took a sip of his drink. ''What a pretty name!'' Myrna said approvingly. ''What about your husband?''

When she glanced at him for help, Loki shot her a quick look that said 'you're on your own.' Jeez, now she had to think of a name for _him_ , too? _I really should have planned this out better_ , she thought. Luckily, at that moment she heard the opening chords of a familiar Pearl Jam song coming from the jukebox. ''Jeremy,'' she blurted.

The old lady smiled brightly. ''Oh, like Jeremy Irons.''

Darcy nodded. ''Exactly.'' She took a large gulp of her vodka. Loki, meanwhile, was still listening with growing amusement and offering no support whatsoever.

''And what does he do?'' Myrna asked.

''Who? Jeremy? He's a...he's a doctor.''

She practically swooned. ''My, my. What sort of doctor?''

''He's a...hematologist. You know...blood and stuff.''

Loki was now having quite a good time now, it was very entertaining to watch her concoct her stories, digging herself in deeper. It made him feel strangely proud. Suppressing a laugh, he turned to the person seated on the other side of him, a short, grizzled old man with hair growing out of his ears. And also his nostrils. ''Are you from this area?'' he asked.

''Me, yeah, been here all my life.'' The old man cast an appreciative look over at Darcy. ''Pretty fine lady you've got there,'' he remarked.

''Yes, she's very...unique.''

''What does she do?''

''Well, right now she's a writer.'' Loki dropped his voice conspiratorially. ''But when I first met her, she worked for a phone sex agency.''

Darcy, who happened to catch this part of the conversation, choked on her vodka.

The old man's eyes widened. ''Really, now? No kidding.''

''Yes, she was struggling to put herself through college, the poor thing. She suffered from a rare blood disorder too.''

''She certainly looks healthy now,'' he noted, trailing his eyes over her curves.

''Yes, well, I treated her,'' explained Loki. ''Saved her life. She's doing so much better. Anyway, one thing led to another and then before we knew it we were married.''

''So, she don't do the phone sex no more then?''

''Well, not for money, anyhow.'' Loki winked at the man, who cackled and wheezed.

Myrna excused herself to go to the bathroom, and Darcy leaned over, an aggravated look on her face. ''I heard that!'' she hissed. ''Why do you get to be a doctor and I'm a professional dirty talker?''

''Former professional dirty talker,'' he corrected. ''I'm a respected...hematologist, I don't want my wife breathing down a phone while some sad lonely pervert wanks on the other end.''

''I can do whatever I want, I don't need you to tell me what to do. If I want to do phone sex, I'm damn well gonna do it!'' Darcy was growing slightly tipsy, and all of the lying had worn her out.

''Of _course_ , but later,'' Loki assured her. ''Let's get you another drink.''

He motioned for the bartender, a young woman who was wearing an alarming amount of lipstick. ''You're a doctor?'' she asked, as she reached for the vodka, having overheard bits of the conversation. ''Maybe...do you think you could you take a look at something for me?''

Darcy rolled her eyes. _Here we go_ , she thought, _the oldest come on in the book. I'm glad I didn't say he was a gynaecologist_. But she had to admit, the girl seemed genuinely anxious about something. After she placed the finished drink down in front of Darcy, she leaned forward and pulled down her shirt slightly, exposing the area from her neck to her shoulder. There was a very prominent, angry red mark there. It looked like a burn.

''How long have you had this?'' Loki asked, examining her skin.

''It started a week ago,'' the bartender replied. ''I woke up and my neck really hurt. Then the mark started to show up. It was really small at first, but then it got worse. It's really painful, to tell you the truth, and almost nothing helps. I'm afraid it might be the shingles. I wanna get it checked out, but I don't have insurance yet, and I can't afford to miss work.''

''It could be shingles, or an allergic reaction. Perhaps you were exposed to something?'' he offered. ''Do you work in the kitchen?''

''Well, I'm always in and out of there, grabbing food for customers at the bar. My boyfriend Lucas is one of the cooks.''

''Does Lucas have any similar marks?'' wondered Loki.

She shook her head. ''No, but some of the other guys, a couple months ago...'' she trailed off, her demeanour growing even more nervous. ''I shouldn't say anything. Forget it.'' She quickly moved away from them and down to the opposite end of the bar.

''See,'' Darcy whispered to him. ''Something's up. Aren't you glad I made you a doctor now?''

''Indeed,'' he answered softly, filing an observance away in his mind: he had noticed that the burn was in the shape of a palm.


	4. Chapter 4

Darcy had woken the next day with a very slight headache, but that was nothing a little coffee wouldn't cure. Now she sat down at the small desk in the hotel room, staring down at the notes that she had taken so far. ''I made a few phone calls, and I found out that the server who had the psychotic break moved out to one of the islands off the coast after she was released. We could maybe take a ferry out there and see if she'll talk to us,'' she said to Loki, who was in deep concentration, staring down at the screen of his tablet. He looked up at her, setting it aside. After taking a moment to consider her suggestion he said, ''Perhaps. But first, I want to know more about the restaurant. For example, who is the owner?''

''Hmmm...'' Darcy flipped through some of the paperwork in the file. ''Some guy named Gerald Capras. He inherited it from his parents five years ago when they died.''

''How did they die?'' he wondered.

She scanned the page again. ''Doesn't say.''

''Interesting.''

'' _Why_ is that interesting?''

''That they both happened to die, leaving him the sole inheritor.''

''It's not uncommon,'' she reasoned. ''People die together all the time, maybe they were in a car accident or a plane crash or something.''

''Well, we'll just have to find out. Fancy another lobster?'' he asked, smirking at her.

Darcy suppressed a grimace. Shellfish was the very last thing she wanted at the moment, but she was not going to let Loki know that, her plan to squick him out was still firmly intact. ''Maybe later. I could use a Bloody Mary though.''

''Excellent. Wear the plaid skirt and the boots.''

''I knew you liked that skirt,'' she said with a grin.

After her shower, when Darcy went to pull the outfit from the suitcase, she saw that all of her underwear had suddenly vanished. She frowned, knowing that she hadn't forgotten to pack them. And then it dawned on her. _Of course_ , she thought with a roll of her eyes. ''Loki?'' she called.

''Yes?'' he answered, suddenly appearing beside her.

She glared at him, hands on her hips. '' _Where_ are all my panties?''

He peered into the suitcase. ''I have no idea,'' he replied innocently. ''Perhaps you neglected to pack them. Oh well, I suppose you'll just have to do without. It's rather warm today, I don't think you'll catch a chill.''

* * *

The weather was beautiful, and the fresh air made Darcy's head feel much clearer. It was very strange to walk in a skirt with no underwear, though, and she prayed that a strong breeze wouldn't suddenly kick up and cause an X-rated Marilyn moment. She did have to admit that there was something enticingly naughty about going commando, the fact that he knew that she was bare beneath. She was certain that Loki was going to use it to his advantage at some point, such was his wicked nature.

When they entered the restaurant, Darcy spotted Myrna sitting at the bar. The old woman dressed very unusually, as if she had gone to a vintage thrift shop and grabbed random bits and pieces off every rack. Today her look was somewhere between Roaring Twenties and Summer of Love; she was wearing a snug purple flapper hat over her grey hair, a loose tunic shirt in paisley print with a floor length jean skirt, and a multitude of long beaded necklaces. Her hands were covered in satin gloves, over which she wore rings upon each finger, and a faux diamond bracelet. A brightly coloured pashmina draped across her shoulders completed the ensemble. A martini glass sat before her, with garish red lipstick on the rim. '' _She's gotta have a cigarette holder hidden somewhere_ ,'' Darcy thought to herself.

Myrna smiled as she saw them approach. ''Felicia! Hello, sweetheart, so wonderful to see you again. And there's that dashing doctor of yours.''

Loki gave her a charming smile and kissed her hand, nearly causing her to faint. Then he patted Darcy on the shoulder. ''You go ahead and order our drinks, love, I'm just going to go over there and have a word with that fellow I met last night.'' She looked over and saw that the wheezy old codger who had been ogling her the previous evening was back as well, seated at the opposite end of the bar.

Darcy observed that the restaurant was quite busy, servers were bustling around with trays, many containing lobster. Her stomach lurched a little at the sight. Next time she would try something else. There were lots of other varieties of shellfish. The early afternoon bartender was a tiny fellow who must have been at least a hundred. He was also very hard of hearing, and Darcy had to repeat their order several times at an increasing volume. Myrna rolled her eyes. ''Don't mind Earl. He played one of the munchkins in _The Wizard of Oz_.''

Earl popped his head up from where he had been kneeling behind the bar looking for something. ''I heard that, you batty wench!'' he said.

''Oh, piss off, Tiny, before I steal your Lucky Charms,'' Myrna laughed jovially and then drained her glass. Then she turned to Darcy. ''We used to be an item, back in the day,'' she whispered.

 _I love this place_ , Darcy thought to herself. _Too bad there's something horribly nefarious going on_.

Earl set another martini in front of Myrna, who made a kissy face at him. The woman was a hoot.

Then, a man stepped out through one of the doorways that connected the kitchen to the larger dining room. ''Oh, there's Norman Bates,'' the old woman muttered to Darcy as she eagerly guzzled at her drink.

''Who?''

''Gerry, the owner.''

Oh, so this was the guy that they had been wondering about earlier. As she sipped down her extra-spicy Bloody Mary, Darcy observed him closely. Luckily, he soon wandered behind the bar and spoke softly to Earl for a moment, then fiddled with the taps.

Gerald Capras was a weird dude, Darcy decided after surreptitiously watching him for several minutes. He was younger than she had expected, maybe in his mid-thirties. He was lanky and tall, over six feet; he had a slender face with a long chin, and muddy-colored brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. It was his grey eyes that bothered her, they held a very vacant look that made her feel like she was trying to stare through a window obscured by fog and droplets of rain. Apart from the eyes, there was also a profound awkwardness to his demeanour.

Then another figure caught Darcy's eye, lingering in the alcove: a small, slight young woman who couldn't be more than five feet tall. She had pale, lightly freckled skin and a pretty mess of curly auburn hair that hung to just below her chin. Wearing the telltale basic black of the food service industry, she also had a large choker around her slender neck.

''Who's that girl standing in the corner?'' Darcy asked Myrna, who looked over. ''Oh, that's Veruca Bass, she's one of the servers,'' the woman replied. ''Quiet little thing.''

It struck Darcy as odd, the way that all of the other staff were darting about hurriedly, and yet she was standing stark still, as if she were patiently awaiting some command. Then Gerald moved away from the bar and over to her. He rested a hand on the top of her head; he might have been tousling her hair but to Darcy it looked more like he was...petting her.

As Darcy continued to watch them, she saw that there was something between Veruca and Gerald, the way that he interacted with her was very different than the way he behaved with the other employees. Veruca was a cute girl, maybe he had a crush on her. She decided that she was going to observe them more closely; her Spidey-senses had begun to tingle.

''Hey Myrna, did you know the previous owners?'' Darcy asked.

''Julia and Max? Of course. I've been a patron here for many years, my dear. It was so sad what happened to them.''

Her ears perked up. ''Really? What happened?''

''Oh, it was awful,'' Myrna intoned dramatically, resting a hand over her heart. ''The brakes on their car failed and they crashed into a ravine. Julia was killed instantly, Max hung on in a coma for about a week before he passed too. They were such lovely people. There's a picture over on the wall,'' she said, pointing to a spot near the hall leading to the bathrooms. Darcy got up to get a closer look. The photograph showed a tall, handsome man and a very pretty woman. They both had wavy blonde hair and green eyes. She slid back to her seat. As she did so, Myrna remarked with a shake of her head, ''People always commented on how similar they looked, but I suppose that can happen. There's that old saying that couples start to look alike after so many years.''

''I thought that was dogs and their owners,'' said Loki, returning to sit down beside them. Myrna laughed. ''Quite right, Jeremy.'' Darcy could swear that the old woman actually batted her fake eyelashes at him. ''Now, you two are a fine looking couple as well. Your babies will be absolutely _gorgeous_. Any plans for children?''

''Not just yet, but perhaps sometime in the future when we're more settled,'' he answered smoothly.

''Aww, I'll bet you're settled just fine, you being a doctor and all.''

Loki took a sip of his Scotch.''Well yes, financially we're quite well-off, but Felicia has a bit of a wild streak that she hasn't yet outgrown...she's quite fond of travelling, likes to have adventures.''

''I used to have adventures,'' sighed Myrna. ''Oh, to be young again! Where have you gone?''

''Paris,'' he answered swiftly. ''We had a grand time there, though her French is terrible. Also Prague, last year, and Tokyo as well. Felicia is just itching to see Nepal, she has a very spiritual side, you know, but I told her, 'darling, why don't we see a bit more of your own country?' And so we've been touring the States: we went to Tennessee a few months ago, she's a bit of a country music fan. Went down to the Carolinas, walked on the beaches...and now we're exploring New England.'' Darcy shoved an olive into her mouth to keep her jaw from dropping. She couldn't believe he'd just come up with all of that. Silvertongued, smooth-talking bastard.

''Oh well, you will absolutely love Maine. And I'm so glad that you're enjoying your stay here so far, you've been great company for an old lush like me.''

Darcy had to smile genuinely at Myrna. Maybe it was the vodka, but it was becoming alarmingly easy to pretend that it was all true, that they were a young married couple on an extended vacation who happened to discover a quaint little restaurant with lively locals. Perhaps in an alternate universe, they were. She had always liked the idea of multiple universes. That way, there was no road not taken, no missed chances. It was all happening somewhere. Yeah, she was getting a little tipsy. But hell, she was on pretend vacation, so she might as well enjoy it.

The septuagenarian was then distracted as one of her friends arrived, a plump, elegant transvestite with a raucous booming laugh. The two gossiped animatedly while Darcy turned to her pretend husband with a smile. ''Have a fun chat with that geezer?''

''His name is Larry, and he's a very pleasant chap,'' Loki replied. ''He used to work on a fishing boat. He's quite fond of whales, he told me all about them.''

''Does he have a wooden leg?'' wondered Darcy.

''Ah, no, he has two...flesh and bone legs.''

''Shame,'' she remarked. ''I always wanted to meet a real-life Ahab.''

''Who?''

''Ahab, you know. From _Moby-Dick_?'' She made her voice low and gruff and held up her straw like a harpoon. '' _From hell's heart I stab at thee_ ,'' she jabbed the plastic spear at Loki's chest, '' _for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee!_ ''

''You're getting tomato juice all over my shirt,'' Loki remarked, brushing himself off.

''To- _mah_ -to,'' she mimicked his pronunciation, giggling.

Loki studied her, suddenly entranced by the way her mouth looked when she smiled, by the shimmery alcohol glaze that made her blue eyes sparkle, by the way that her red shirt hugged those ample tits of hers, by the knowledge that her pussy was completely bare beneath that little plaid skirt. ''I never figured you for the sort who would enjoy an overly-long allegorical novel about the whaling industry.''

''Dude, no, so much more than that,'' Darcy explained wildly, waving her hands around. ''Ok, so like, there are some parts that just drone on and on, but then you hit like, these literary g-spots, these amazing passages that make you totally understand about obsession, and the struggle between man and nature...dude, it's worth the read.''

He actually rather liked it when she called him 'dude', Loki decided. It was far better than the couple that he had observed on their flight; a young woman who seemed glued to her phone and kept calling her prematurely balding companion 'bae.' '' He'd wanted to rip open the emergency hatch after about five minutes of that and send the entire cabin spilling out into the atmosphere.

''Literary g-spots, how insightful. Tell me more. Show me some of them,'' he added, dropping his voice.

''Ok, so there's this little boy on the ship named Pipâ€"I don't know why Pip was even allowed to be on the boat anyhow, child labour laws were seriously lax back then-but anyhow, the poor kid falls overboard and they rescue him but he's totally crazy after that because''-Darcy paused, collecting her tipsy thoughts, making sure that she had the quote right-'' _he saw God's foot upon the treadle of the loom and spoke it; and therefor his shipmates called him mad. So man's insanity is heaven's sense, and wandering from all mortal reason, man comes at last to that celestial thought, which, to reason, is absurd and frantic_.''

'' _And weal or woe, feels then uncompromised, indifferent as his God_ ,'' Loki finished with a grin. ''An orgasm of words indeed.''

 _Whoa_ , was all that Darcy could think. She felt something inexplicable pass between them at that moment, a fierce tingle of electricity that struck her deeply, scorching every cell in her blood. _Did you feel that too_ , she wanted to ask, but she simply took another deep swig of her drink, relishing the spicy burn of vodka and tabasco, willing it to sear away the fearsome twitches of love that she was feeling for him. She felt the great need to move the conversation to a topic far more safe and mundane, and so Darcy asked abruptly:

''If you had to sleep with one of the girls from _Sex and the City_ , who would it be?''

Loki made a face. ''If I absolutely had to choose, then probably Samantha,'' he decided after a beat.

''Me too!'' exclaimed Darcy.

''Really?'' he said, lifting an eyebrow. ''I would have thought you would say Carrie.''

''Nah, she's annoying. Aidan or Mr. Big?''

''Mr. Big, obviously,'' he replied.

She nodded. ''I agree. Which of the girls from _Friends_?''

''Phoebe,'' he answered quickly. ''You?''

''Monica.''

''But she's so _neurotic_.'' Loki hated the fact that she had forced him to watch all ten seasons of that show. Well, at least, he told himself that he hated it. In truth, he loved the way that her interests were so varied: Darcy could watch cartoons and reality TV and then carry on a conversation about string theory and quote Herman Melville. She truly was a rare find.

''Yeah, but she's sweet, and she's gorgeous,'' Darcy countered, her mind still at Central Perk. ''Plus, she could cook breakfast for me.''

''Fair enough,'' agreed Loki. ''Which of the men?''

''Chandler. Who's yours?''

He took a moment to consider the choices, then said, ''I suppose it's a tie between Chandler and Joey.''

Darcy laughed loudly. ''This is one of the best conversations we've ever had.''

''Even better than the epic zombie debate from last week?'' he wondered.

''That was a good one,'' she admitted. ''And by the way, you do a ridiculously good impression of Rick Grimes.''

'' _Carl!_ ''

Darcy dissolved into a fit of wild giggles, then stabbed at an olive, trying to spear it as she realized once again how much she liked just _being_ with Loki.

* * *

The afternoon passed quickly, as it always did when alcohol was involved, the hours slipping past like water. Earl had departed and now there was a new bartender on shift, a ginger-haired young man with a smiley mouth and callused fingers. ''Hey,'' Darcy asked him, remembering, ''where's the girl from last night? Is she coming in today? I uh, I think I might have forgotten to tip her, I'm so spacey when I drink.''

He paused in drying one of the pint glasses with a towel. ''Alicia? Yeah, she called off. Said that she wasn't feeling well.''

''Oh.'' Darcy got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. ''But I'd be happy to serve you,'' he added with a flirtatious grin.

''You could get me a Scotch on the rocks,'' Loki said to him, leaning over. ''And I think that my wife would like another Bloody Mary,'' he added, draping his arm possessively around Darcy's shoulders.

''Of course, Sir,'' he said politely. ''Coming right up.''

''And she likes them very spicy.''

Darcy should have kicked him, but instead she felt stupidly warm inside. _It's ok to pretend_ , she thought to herself. _It's just like acting. We'd be good actors. We should do Shakespeare. Or Tennessee Williams. Nah, I can't do a Southern accent. But Loki can. Carl! God, I'm drunk._ She giggled. ''What are you so happy about?'' he asked, his breath cool against her ear.

''Nothing,'' she responded, composing herself. ''I was just thinking about the theatre.''

Loki nodded. ''I see. Maybe we'll go sometime.''

''Really?''

''Yes, to the theatre, or to the opera, if you prefer,'' he leaned closer and nipped at her earlobe.

''Ok, but do you know where I want to go first?''

''Where?''

''To the beach!''

''Oh, blast it all, fine. Finish your drink and then I'll take you to the damned beach.''

''Yay!'' she took a big gulp of the beverage. ''Damn, that is spicy.'' As she was sipping, Darcy noticed the girl, Veruca, walking by. She got a closer look at what she had originally thought was a choker around her neck; now she realized that it was much more like a collar than anything else.


	5. Chapter 5

After bidding goodbye to Myrna, Loki and Darcy took a long walk down to the shore. The sky had grown a little overcast, clouds clustering. Thankfully, it was still warm enough that she wasn't too bothered by the fact that she wore nothing beneath her skirt. She was sure that he was planning to do something about that, and she wondered when and what it would be. Darcy nearly shrieked in delight when she finally saw the ocean up ahead, spread out, the waves washing over the rocks on the beach. Pieces of driftwood, small stones and sea glass crunched beneath her boot-clad feet. ''Isn't it incredible?'' she cried out, spinning in a circle. There was something so enchanting about the vastness of the water, its power.

''It's _large_ ,'' Loki allowed. Honestly, he couldn't really tell where his dislike for the sea came from. Perhaps it was because he'd had recurring nightmares of drowning in icy water since he was a child, pulled down, down into the freezing darkness. But Darcy didn't have to know that. She seemed so happy, and he wanted her to be able to enjoy the moment.

She ran up to him, stood on her toes and kissed him. ''Thank you for bringing me here,'' she said sincerely, her eyes shining.

''You're welcome. Might as well get it out of your system early.'' He reached down and squeezed her bottom. ''I do really love this skirt by the way,'' Loki added. He took a moment to scan their surroundings. The beach was mostly empty; there were about four people visible further down, tourists taking pictures, it appeared. Then the god noticed a small cluster of fairly tall rocks a few feet away. An idea came to him immediately. He had a theory, and this might be a fine place to put it to the test. There was a chance he might begin to really enjoy the seashore. Taking Darcy's hand, Loki pulled her along until they were standing right where he wanted them. ''What are you doing?'' she asked, noting the look on his face, the look that sent her blood humming. Excitement wriggled in the bottom of her stomach. ''Checking to see if you've been a good girl,'' he replied.

He bent her over; Darcy braced her hands on the large rock, steadying herself. Loki's fingers slowly trailed up her leg, beneath the plaid fabric. Then they skimmed across her folds, a tremor racing through her at the touch. Her head turned quickly to the side, peering down the beach where those few other people were collected. Though she realised that she and Loki were probably not visible from this particular spot, the threat of being seen was enough to make her heart pound.

''Maybe they'll wander up here,'' he said mischievously, stroking her as he noticed her staring. ''See how naughty you're being right now.'' His cock hardened as he felt her dripping folds, the swollen nub of excited flesh hidden there. She was loving this, he realised, as he pulled up her skirt a little further, exposing her curvy thighs. Loki ground against her, rubbing his fabric-covered erection between her thighs. Darcy moaned and pressed back into him. The wind caught her long hair, tossing it. The ocean moved forward, lapping at the shore, folding itself over the sand. '

'Ah yes, you've been _very_ good. I knew you would be soaking wet,'' he murmured. ''This gets you so wild. You want,'' he kept one hand beneath her skirt while with the other he undid the front of his pants and set his aching length free, ''me to slide right inside your pretty little quim and take you.'' He lined the tip up with her entrance and began to sink slowly into her heat. ''Oh god,'' moaned Darcy, pressing her hands more firmly against the the rock, scratching it with her nails. Loki was just teasing her now, dipping in shallowly, feeling the soft silky clutching of her golds. ''So hungry for this, aren't you?''

''Yes, my lord. _Uh_ , please give me _more_!'' Her womb was aching, she wanted that hard rod stuffed inside of her, as deep as he could get. He stopped teasing her with his fingers, felt her squirm at the lack of contact and try to push herself back onto him. Loki chuckled and reached up to undo the top buttons on her red blouse, then pulled down the lace cups of her bra, one and then the other, until her breasts were completely exposed. Darcy bit her lip, feeling the slight chill of the air on her sensitive skin, her nipples growing even harder. She was hesitant, glancing at the tourists to make sure that they were occupied with taking pictures. She couldn't imagine how wanton she looked at the moment: her bare tits were hanging out, her skirt was hitched up practically around her waist while she was being fucked from behind. Loki bent her over further and then thrust in completely up to the hilt. Darcy couldn't help it, she let out a strangled noise that sounded very loud to her ears. She prayed that nobody had heard her. And yet some other small part of her hoped that they _did_. Now more than ever she was seeing the deviant side of herself come inching slowly into the light. _Would they be shocked if they saw_? she wondered. _Disgusted? Or perhaps turned on?_

This was even better than he had expected, Loki thought as he moved in her, changing rhythm; slow, slow strokes and then several hard thrusts in quick succession, so deep that he was almost bumping her cervix. Darcy was responding very well indeed, maybe next time he would pick a less isolated location.

Spots formed in the corners of her eyes as her body began to lose control. '' _Bite me_ ,'' Darcy whispered. ''What's that?'' he growled, wanting to make sure that he'd heard her properly.

''Bite down on my neck,'' she begged, licking her lip. ''Do it hard.''

His prick twitched inside of her cunt as he leaned forward, his lips grazing the back of her neck, the place where it connected to her shoulder, where he knew she liked it. Then he dug his teeth in, not hard enough to break the skin, but enough to leave a mark. Damn, she brought out the animal side of him.

When Darcy felt this, that was it; it was the rough possessive action she craved, and it sent her over the edge, orgasm crashing like a heavy wave. Floods of her juices drenched Loki's cock and then forced him to erupt, sending spurts of seed deep into her core. She loved how long he lasted, how much he could fill her with, Darcy realised, and she had a strange wish that their bodies could knot together like wolves and the thought of it sent another climax rioting through her.

''Perfect,'' he hissed against her neck as he held her. ''You are _perfect_.''

* * *

When they got back to the hotel Darcy took a long shower, trying to process what had just happened as she washed away the traces of their lovemaking that remained along the inside of her thighs. It had been a very new experience for her, and even just thinking about it made her horny again. Unable to deny the urge, she slipped her hand between her legs and leaned against the shower wall, rubbing herself before quickly thrusting two fingers inside of her pussy, grinding down as she plunged them in and out, coming within seconds, it seemed. Gods, she was turning into a slutty little monster, and she blamed him completely.

Loki smirked at her as she emerged and wrapped herself in a large terry cloth robe. He knew exactly what she had been doing in there, and he liked that he had made her so insatiable. This day had been a remarkable success so far. He cared very little about the mysterious restaurant, though he had to admit that certain aspects of it were intriguing, he was fairly certain that it would all be solved very simply. It was coincidental, he had decided. People had nervous breakdowns all the time, and people also got random skin ailments in all different patterns. Perhaps he had merely imagined the handprint shape on the bartender's neck. He wanted to take a closer look at the medical reports that had diagnosed radiation burns. It was possible that it was a mistake, or that they were indeed from radiation, but caused by something outside of the restaurant. Loki knew that Fury didn't have a high opinion of him, and that these assignments were primarily a way to keep him occupied and hopefully out of trouble. This suited him just fine. He wasn't bored at all, not anymore. These were excellent opportunities to get to know his partner better.

Darcy sat down on the bed and pulled out her notebook, forcing herself to get some actual work done, work that did not involve alcohol or sex on a public beach. She began to make a list of leads to check out, including learning more about Julia and Max Capras, as well as their strange son. Also Alicia the bartender, and the server who had gone banana balls.

Loki, too, was making a list, albeit a mental one, of things he had learned about Darcy thus far: _exhibitionist, likes biting, has multiple orgasms, is more than willing to experiment, enjoys spanking, drinks vodka, has submissive tendencies..._

Finding that her eyelids had begun to droop, Darcy gave up and set the notebook aside. She meant to just take a small nap and then get back to work, but when her head rested against the pillow, within minutes she was deeply asleep.

 _Snores_ , he added.

* * *

Before the first light of dawn had even shown in the sky, Darcy awoke with a start, trying to keep the dream fresh in her mind. She hadn't had one this intense since their last case. It had been _hot_ , crazy hot, and she wanted to make sure it was all written down before it faded even a little. Not wanting to get out of bed to grab the laptop, she just grabbed her notebook off of the bedside table and began to write wildly, her hands flying over the paper.

 _She was being led into the golden room, her hands bound behind her. Spectators were seated all around, craning their heads for a look as she was dragged along, eager, it seemed, to witness the judgement that would be passed on her. Her heart thudded in her chest as they approached the throne where the King was seated, his legs splayed lazily apart. He grinned down at her and she gave a shudder at how handsome he was, with his bright eyes and sharp cheekbones and long silky black hair._

 _The guard pushed her down onto her knees in front of him. She struggled against her bonds and the King seemed pleased. ''Ladies and gentlemen,'' he announced to the crowd as he stood, ''this young woman is being brought before me to answer for her crimes. She has broken my rules and must be punished. Remove her robe,'' he commanded the guard, who pulled it away to reveal her naked body beneath. Cowering at her King's feet she felt ashamed, but also wildly aroused. The way he looked down at her, that stern, feral glint in his shimmering eyes, like he wanted to devour her. He stepped forward and reached a hand out to stroke her cheek. ''Such a beauty,'' he said, his voice like dark satin. ''I shall enjoy this punishment.''_

 _He turned her to face the audience, who were watching with rapt attention as he began to fondle her breasts, cupping them in his big hands, smiling at the way her little pink nipples stiffened. ''Yes, you like that, don't you?'' he whispered. Then he began to unfasten his pants, pulling out his very massive cock. It was nearly fully erect already from touching her, and she gaped at the length. Her pussy tingled and clenched, wondering how it would feel to have that buried inside of her. He moved forward, pressing the tip to her lips. ''Open your mouth and suck me until I spill down your throat.''_

 _She shook from head to foot, but followed his instructions, letting him push inside. She began to work him as best she could, though he was so very large. He hissed in pleasure. ''That's a good little slut.'' He gripped her hair and yanked hard, thrusting further back and making her eyes water as she fought against her gag reflex. She looked up at him, which calmed her: the dark expression of bliss on his beautiful face, being held at his mercy like this, naked and degraded in front of the entire room._

 _''Oh, you are special,'' he breathed as his hips began to move. She wanted to discreetly rub her thighs together but thought against it, even though her sex was burning and she was shamefully aroused at what she was being made to endure. She didn't mind the feeling of him filling her throat, in fact she felt the opposite. The King's hips jerked again as a moan escaped his lips. She felt his cock stiffen, twitch, and then he cried out and pulled hard on her hair as she felt the explosion of his seed against the back of her throat. He watched her carefully through heavy-lidded eyes, making sure that she swallowed every drop. Then he pulled out and she drew in deep gulps of air, streams of saliva running down her chin. ''Perfect,'' he praised. Reclining back in his chair, he motioned for her to come to him._

 _''Sit on my lap, facing them.'' The King waved his hand to indicate the audience. Legs shaking, she complied until she was sitting in his lap, displayed there on the throne in front of the entire crowd, all of them watching with feverish anticipation to see how she would be debauched next. He used his hands to spread her legs apart so that her pussy was on display. She realized that this was actually making her wetter. His long fingers grazed her mound, then delved between the petal-soft folds, exposing the nectar of her arousal. ''Dripping wet, just as I thought,'' he said. ''Only very good sluts get wet from sucking cock. You loved it, didn't you?'' He began to gently stroke her. ''You love having my prick forced down your throat while everyone watches you take it.''_

 _''Yes, my lord,'' she whispered, suppressing a moan as he played with her clit. He bit down on the soft skin between her shoulder and her neck, then plunged a tapered finger deep inside of her. She thrashed in his lap and he bit down harder to keep her still. She was seconds away from orgasm now, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. The King released her neck and then his hand pulled away. ''On your feet, little girl,'' he said, pushing her off of his lap. She stood on wobbly legs, her face a dark red. ''What a pretty thing you are, so needy. I want to keep you this way.''_

 _He held out his hand and a long strand of gold rope materialized from thin air. ''Stand up straight,'' he demanded, and she obeyed. With a silky smile he began to wind the rope around her naked body. When he was finished, it was tied so that her breasts thrust forward and it wrapped twice between her legs, brushing against her clit._

 _''Excellent, pet,'' he said, admiring his handiwork. ''Now, walk to me.''_

 _She tried to take a few steps and gasped as the ropes tugged at her overstimulated sex. He had left her so unsatisfied that the movement was torture. The King smiled, showing his teeth. ''This is how I'm going to keep you,'' he decided, reaching out to fondle her bound breasts, pinching her nipple. ''For one entire day you will serve me, in whatever way I require of you. You will be kept so aroused that you can barely see straight but you will get no relief. This rope is enchanted so that you cannot climax no matter how badly you need to.''_

Â

That was where the dream had ended, and Darcy was now feeling buzzed and exhausted from the recollection. The pen dropped from her hand and then she rested her head back on the pillow again, hoping that she might be able to find her way back to see what would come next. Not _her_ , apparently.

The minute that Loki heard her snoring again he slipped out of bed and grabbed the notebook. He had pretended to be sleeping while she wrote, and now he was more than a little curious to see what she had been so eager to commit to paper. His eyebrows went up as he began to read. He had expected it to be some interaction between Violet and Mr. Lamont, but this was... _different_. This, it seemed, was more directly about the two of them, unless he was misinterpreting it and he didn't think that he was. Loki closed the book and lay down, trying to will away his hard-on.

No, it wasn't going away. He kept thinking about Darcy sucking him off while an entire room full of his subjects watched eagerly. Reaching under the pillow he removed a tiny garment made of silk and lace-her underwear, which had conveniently gone missing earlier in the day-and wrapped it around his aching cock, which he began to stroke with near-frantic motions. She was sleeping soundly once more and he didn't care if she did wake up and see him, she'd done the same thing in the shower after all...he gasped as his hips jerked and he spent himself into the fabric, his head falling back in relief. Tomorrow, Loki thought to himself, he was going to get some rope.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, neither Loki nor Darcy spoke about what she had written, though both contemplated it silently. The day was bright and sunny, a cerulean blue sky hung above the town, painted with a few puffy white clouds. It was Darcy's decision to go and do some work outside of both the hotel room and the restaurant; she needed a fresh location in which to process everything that had happened, both work and non-work related. So they temporarily set up shop at a table in a nearby cafe.

When Darcy had first woken that day, she read over the transcription of her smutty dream and while it made her distinctly tingly and warm, it also made her somewhat anxious. Usually, her writing centered around her characters, and while she knew that Violet and Mr. Lamont were essentially fictional versions of both she and Loki, they were still tucked safely within the realm of fantasy. This dream had taken on an entirely different life, a level of realism that Darcy was not certain she was ready for. But it had been _exciting_. More exciting than she cared to admit to herself. Perhaps the dream had been her subconscious trying to tell her that she was ready for more, that their relationship could progress to other places, places that she had only experienced in books. Maybe imagination simply wasn't enough, anymore.

* * *

As she ate her third apple crumb danish of the morning, Darcy did some counting on her fingers and then it occurred to her that, to her great dismay, she was going to be getting her period any day now. She groaned inwardly. Why did pesky things like nature and biology have to keep getting in the way of all her fun? She pushed it out of her mind and focused on her notes. ''What's the matter?'' Loki asked, staring at her. ''You look...perturbed.''

''Nothing,'' she mumbled. He took a moment to study her. She was going to bleed very soon, he knew, probably later on this afternoon. Her scent had changed, her tits had gotten slightly larger, marvellously so, and she'd been consuming more sweet foods than usual. For some reason, this knowledge excited him immensely.

''I want to try to track down any sort of documentation we can find on the Capras. Vital records, coroner's reports on Julia and Max's deaths, also paperwork for the building itself-deeds, chain of ownership, old Health Department reports-anything,'' Darcy told him. ''Maybe there's a Hall of Records around here or something.''

Loki snorted and tapped at a few keys on the laptop. '' _Please_ ,'' he scoffed. Within a few moments nearly all of the information that she wanted had popped up on the screen. ''SHIELD has unrestricted access to just about every records database imaginable, you know that.'' Then he gave her a crooked smile. ''And yet you want to go combing through old dusty shelves.''

Darcy took a sip of coffee and sighed. ''I guess I just like doing things the old fashioned way.'' She gestured to the screen. ''We've made it too easy for ourselves. Whatever happened to the thrill of the chase?''

''Well, I'm sure that at some point we will be required to visit the hall of records or whatever it is and then you can peruse ancient cobwebby files until your heart is content.''

''Thank you,'' she said. Then she eyed the pastry on the plate in front of him. ''Are you going to finish that scone?''

Loki pushed the plate over to her. ''Have at it.'' Then he peered at the screen, enlarging some of the scanned documents. Darcy immediately recognized the frowning, narrow-eyed look on his face and so she asked, around a mouthful of pastry, ''What is it?''

''Gerald Capras was adopted. But his adoption records are sealed. I can't access them.''

''Isn't it normal for those kinds of records to be sealed?'' she asked skeptically. Loki shot her a withering glance. ''Not like this. There's 'sealed' to the general public, and then there are things that someone has gone to very great lengths to keep under lock and key. However, from what I can tell, he wasn't born in the United States, he was born in the Soviet Union, what's now Ukraine. Hmmm...''

''What?''

''He was born in 1983, in a town called Pripyat.''

''Pripyat?'' Darcy echoed, the name making a small bell ring at the back of her mind. ''Why does that sound familiar?''

''Because it was the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant,'' he answered.

''Oh. _Oh_.''

Loki clicked on another file. ''Very interesting.'' Darcy looked closer and her eyes widened. ''Loki, those are _Pentagon files_ ,'' she hissed. ''You shouldn't be looking at them in the middle of a coffee shop!''

''Why not?'' he demanded. ''Everyone is utterly oblivious.''

As she glanced around the cafe, Darcy had to admit that he was right. Everyone was on their phones or laptops, busy with their own lives. ''Still, I'm sure that it's _frowned_ upon.''

''Much of what I do is frowned upon by someone,'' countered Loki. ''Look, before Max Capras became a restaurant owner, he worked for the Department of Defense. And then it seems that he quit the government and went into private contracting, working as a safety inspector of nuclear facilities, both in the U.S. And abroad.''

''Did he ever visit the Chernobyl Plant?'' asked Darcy, a strange inkling rising up from the bottom of her mind.

''Yes, more than once, both times within a year of the explosion.''

She exhaled. ''Damn. This is all a little more than coincidental, don't you think? Kid from ground zero for the world's worst nuclear disaster now runs a restaurant where the staff start developing _radiation_ burns?''

''I don't like to jump to conclusions,'' Loki said determinedly, though certain pieces of the puzzle were beginning to connect at the corners in a very odd way. He closed the laptop. ''We'll revisit this later. Let's go back to the hotel.''

''Why?'' Darcy wondered as she polished off the last of the scone.

''Because I tire of the public,'' he said in a clipped voice.

The truth of the matter was that Loki was getting aggressively horny and very slowly losing control of his senses. Which did not bode well, as control was something that he prided himself on. It was all because of Darcy: her smell, which had now grown more thick and rich, full of a heady dark sweetness that made his head swim, and the memory of the story that she had written, which was clearly about she and him, her desire for him to dominate her. She had slowly been unleashing something inside of him for weeks and now it was threatening to break its chains completely.

He tried to push it out of his mind as they returned to the room, tried to fight the wild yearning that had given him fitful dreams and made him half-hard all morning. But fighting it was starting to become futile, and some very mischievous impulse made him bring up something. Even though it was work-related, his motives in mentioning it were of a far more base nature.

''You know,'' he said, as Darcy took off her shoes and began to brush her hair, ( _he loved seeing her hair falling loose around her shoulders, it made him want to grab it and tug hard_ ) ''Larry, the 'old geezer' from the restaurant, he told me that Gerry Capras is quite the kinky fellow. Apparently there's a place on the other side of town, it used to be a burlesque house but now it's an underground BDSM club. Gerald has been seen there quite a few times, often with a young woman. An employee of his, as a matter of fact.''

Setting down the brush, Darcy exclaimed ''Veruca! The server. I'll bet you anything it's her.'' She turned around and stared at Loki, who was now sitting on the edge of bed. ''Well, I guess that explains the collar. Maybe she's his submissive.'' She paused for a moment and bit her lip in thought. ''Something about it just doesn't feel right, though.''

He looked up at her, his eyes such a vivid blue-green that they were nearly glowing. A small strand of his dark hair fell into his face; this small thing always got her blood in a whirl, for some reason.

''Do you not like the idea of being collared?'' Loki asked slowly. He wasn't sure why he had phrased the question like that, but he was pummelled with a sudden image of Darcy on her knees with an emerald collar around her throat and he had a great urge to know how she might react to such a thought.

She balked a little, shyness creeping in her features. ''That...no...I mean,'' she said, tripping over the words, ''it's definitely fine if it's consensual and it may very well be in their caseâ€"but I just get this feeling I can't shake. There's something...spooky about the two of them.''

He studied her face, watching her squirm. The flush across her cheeks was very attractive to him. ''Maybe you're subconsciously troubled by the idea.''

''I'm _not_ ,'' she stated emphatically. ''I like-I mean,'' Darcy added, catching herself, ''I think that it can be...a fine thing, for the right people.''

''A fine thing,'' the god repeated. His voice was low and it crawled over her skin like fingers. There was a weird electricity in the air, cloaking the both of them. Something about Loki's demeanour had definitely changed, she noticed: it was in his face, his aura, his body language. He seemed...hungry. And he wasn't the only one.

Darcy was feeling it too: every time that she looked at Loki she wanted him to throw her on the bed and absolutely ravish her, to fuck her until she begged him to stop, to hold her down roughly and claim her, mark her as his. The heat of these desires was staggering.

He slid off of the bed and came up behind her, his touch like a sudden jolt of electricity. She watched their reflection in the mirror as he slid his hands under her shirt and squeezed her breasts. They always got a little sore right before her period, and when he fondled them it sent a weird spark of pleasure-pain zinging through her, from her tits right to her pussy.

She let out a throaty noise that made his cock jump and his hand stilled. ''Uh, they're just really sensitive right now,'' she explained.

''Do you want me to stop?'' he asked.

Darcy shook her head. ''No, keep going, it feels...good.''

Loki spun her around so that she was facing him. He ripped her shirt clean down the middle, effortlessly, and then her bra-Darcy was thankful that it wasn't one of her more expensive ones-and grunted in pleasure as he got his hands on her bare skin. Her head fell back as he sucked hard on her nipples, leaving little love bites on the tender skin. Aside from the wetness of her arousal, she soon also felt a familiar dull pressure in her pelvis, then a warm trickle. _Oh, shit_.

Releasing her, Loki reluctantly stood back for a moment.''You're bleeding,'' he said. His eyes looked almost black and his breath came very quickly. God, she wanted him.

''Yeah, sorry, I gotta take care of this,'' she said, feeling cheated and annoyed, almost violently craving sex. Oh, _why_ did the universe have to constantly screw her in the not-fun way?

She made a motion to go, but he put a hand on her arm, stopping her. Darcy was not at all expecting what came next. He shook his head. ''No,'' Loki told her firmly.

''No?''

His hold on her tightened as he leaned closer, chill breath ghosting across her neck. ''Let me have you.''

Darcy blinked at him, momentarily unable to process what she was hearing. ''But I just got my _period_.''

''I know. I can smell it. I want you.'' Then he added, ''please?''

This was definitely different, something that she had never done before. One of her friends in college had once drunkenly rattled on about how great period sex was-''just put a fucking _towel_ on the bed and you'll be fine. I swear, you'll come like never before''-but it was still a strange thought to Darcy. Something about his eyes, though, the hunger there, it made her want to give it a shot. ''Ok,'' she whispered.

He grinned, ( _like a wolf, Darcy noticed_ ) and lifted her into his arms. After setting her down on the bed he crawled up beside her. She brushed the loose strands of hair away from his eyes and focused on the eroticism of the moment, rather than her hang-ups about the potential ickiness. Loki's hand came to rest on her lower belly. ''Does it hurt?'' he asked softly.

''A little,'' she replied.

''I should be able to help with that, if you'll allow me.''

''Yes. I mean...I just...''

''What? You want this, don't you?''

''Of course, but...it's really intimate and I don't want you to be grossed out,'' she admitted.

''I assure you, I won't be,'' Loki said, and Darcy was comforted by the sincerity in his voice. ''I need you to trust me enough to let me touch you.''

''Alright.'' Her body had begun screaming for him, a throbbing ache that constricted her inner walls.

''Let me touch,'' he repeated, bringing his fingers to her pussy. He rubbed over the swollen little bundle of nerves with the pad of his thumb and then Darcy shut her eyes tightly as he delved two digits inside. Oh _fuck, damn_ , was all she could think, clutching reflexively, feeling sweet unholy pleasure as he sought out each corner of her channel, making her shake.

Loki could feel slick warm wetness bathing his fingers, an intoxicating mix of blood and arousal. ''Nothing to be ashamed of,'' he said and she opened her eyes to look at him, seeing his pupils blown wide with lust, his breathing heavy. She also couldn't help but notice the thick bulge tenting the front of his pants. He shifted on the bed, a faint glimmer slid across his body and then he was naked. Positioning their bodies, he pressed the tip of his cock against her opening and then slid inside. Oh, this felt so _wrong_ , but so amazing.

''Deeper,'' she whispered, arching her back.

Loki was not prepared for how affected he was going to be by this. A cold possessiveness that he had never quite felt before rose up inside of him; the chains around the monster broke and he was fully unleashed. He scarcely recognised the voice that was speaking as he said, ''I'll go as deep as I can. Into your ripe, fertile body. It wants to breed. Every month, you wait to be filled; you crave it. I know you do. That's why I come so hard when I'm inside of you. I want your womb full of my seed, I want you to swell with my child.''

Darcy almost stopped breathing at that. Her skin suddenly felt much too hot, and she was troubled by the response, because it was a positive one. Never had she heard anything so primal and dark. '' _It's just a game_ ,'' she assured herself.

 _Just a game. Might as well play_.

''Take me hard, stuff me full of your cock!'' Darcy could scarcely _believe_ that she was saying such things, but she was, and it was turning her on even more. ''Fill me with your babies, knock me up...''

Through the haze in his mind, Loki noticed that his skin was turning cold, of its own accord: nature was taking over and within seconds he had regressed to his Frost Giant form, unable to stop the metamorphosis even if he wanted to. Growling, he roughly flipped Darcy her onto her stomach. ''I'm going to breed you, my sweet little slut,'' he hissed, driven beyond all sense. He thrust into her without abandon, and when he pulled out he could see the blood on his very large Jotun cock and it made him even more feral. Something new was happening to him; he had never before felt this loss of control; his prick was absolutely aching and he was consumed with an animal lust. _Mate_ , screamed his body. Before he abandoned his rational mind completely, he made sure that the contraception spell that he always cast was firmly in placeâ€"he was getting so far gone he had no doubts that without it she _would_ wind up pregnant, despite the fact that she was having her bleed.

Once this was taken care of, Loki allowed himself a fantasy...his seed taking root in her womb, her body swelling and ripening, round bump growing in her middleâ€"his baby. Those soft, incredible breasts heavy with milk...he was jarred from these thoughts as yet another new development presented itself. He paused in shock, feeling blissful pressure at the base of his cock as he pressed in...and stayed. Unable to move.

Darcy made a wild, choked sound as she felt her pussy walls being stretched; Loki had stopped moving but his prick just kept swelling and thickening. ''What's that?'' she gasped out. ''It's...oh, fuck, it's incredible but...'' she tried to rock forward and realized that she couldn't; their bodies were inexplicably fused together. _He knotted me_ , she thought. _Like a wolf_. He was so deep in, he was hitting every possible nerve ending, her body completely at his mercy. Then, the orgasms started in the both of them, at the same time, feeding into each other. They just kept coming. Unable to move, Darcy was helplessly impaled on his cock. He couldn't speak, he just made low rough growling sounds as she felt the icy gushes of his release splash up into her body.

''Oh _yes_.'' It felt like she was screaming but she was only whispering. '' _Fill me up_.''

Loki's teeth found her neck again, marking her, _claiming_ her. He'd never had this happen before. He was aware that it _could_ happen-he'd heard stories about the lustful animal nature of Frost Giants-but it was nothing compared to actually feeling it, to being locked inside her sweet, warm cunny. It seemed to take hours for their simultaneous orgasms to taper off, for his prick to stop shooting its load. When it finally did, his more human mind and body slowly returned to him and he could move again, pull out of her, albeit reluctantly. The cold receded and the monster slipped away. For now.

Darcy turned over. Utterly wrecked, there was a feverish look still in her eyes. She blinked as if rousing from a dream, looking down between her thighs, which were spattered with blood and chilly white streaks of come. She was trembling. Loki got off of the bed and hurried into the bathroom, turning on the shower and letting the water get hot. Then he returned to help his trembling girl to her feet, leading her. Neither one of them spoke as they stood together, the water falling over them. It was a little too hot for his liking, but he didn't care: he just wanted to warm her up quickly, he knew that the cold exposure wasn't good, especially during a mating so intense as that.

Darcy clung to him beneath the spray for a few more silent moments, and then finally spoke. ''That was perfect,'' she told him softly. ''I don't...I've never felt anything so intense, but it was perfect and it was right...'' There were other words on the tip of her tongue, and she finally spoke them. ''I'm yours.''

Hearing this said so willingly, as she looked up at him with her wide blue eyes, Loki found himself getting hard again. ''You are,'' he said. ''You are mine, my sweet little girl, my slut, my mate. You will never have another man inside of you. You belong to me now.''

A realization beat against Darcy's mind like urgent wings: _It's not a game anymore. This is very real_.

''Yes, my lord,'' she said.

''I will take care of you. I will protect you,'' he continued, in a tone that she'd never quite heard him take before; it was beyond authoritative, it was...kingly. It was the way the ruler spoke to the ruled. ''I will give you everything you could possibly want, and all I require is your loyalty and your obedience. If you disobey me, I will punish you, sometimes harshly. I will remind you who your lord and master is.''

His fingers gently stroked her throat as he spoke. He gazed at her, his eyes dark and more serious than she'd ever seen them, like burning coals. ''If you don't want this, tell me. I won't say another word about it and we can go back to being...whatever we were before.''

''I want it.'' She knew that this was not a thing to be taken lightly. And yet everything inside of her screamed that it was right. Nature had spoken.


	7. Chapter 7

Loki had thought that the mad lust would taper off, but it did not. It rose again, responding to Darcy-the need to possess her, for her to be his. By the time they got out of the shower he was hard again. He dried her off with a towel, softly and silently, then lifted her and lay her down on the bed.

''How did you do that?'' she asked. ''Before, with the you know...'' she locked her fingers together in illustration, wishing that she could google the mating habits of Frost Giants. ''Knotting.''

Shaking his head in reply, Loki admitted, ''I don't know. I've never done it before, it just happened.''

''So that was new for you?'' This made her feel an odd sense of pride.

He nodded. ''Did it...hurt you?'' he asked tentatively.

''No,'' she answered. ''It felt different, but...good different.'' Her eyes traveled lower and fixed on his cock, which was now standing fiercely at attention once more. ''Do you think it might happen again?''

''I feel like there is a distinct possibility.''

Darcy shivered at the thought, though her skin was very warm. The pang of cramps in her back and lower belly reminded her that she had forgotten to put in a tampon. She moved to get off the bed but she suddenly found her hands tied together and bound to the headboard above her with gold silk rope. ''What are you doing?'' she asked, wiggling.

''I want to make you feel better,'' replied Loki, climbing up beside her, pulling the towel away from her body. It was useless to argue with him, she knew, the minute she saw the fevered look returning to his eyes. His mouth fastened on one of her breasts and he sucked and flicked at her nipple, grazing it with his teeth, then slid lower and lower. Darcy clamped her legs shut before he could reach his destination. ''What?'' he demanded sharply, glaring up at her.

''It's...''

''We've had this discussion before. I'm _not_ going to have it again. Open your damned legs.''

She did as she was told, closing her eyes and allowing him to bring his mouth against her. Loki kissed her softly and then began the motions of his tongue, slow-slow at first and then building in intensity. He paused. ''Stop projecting all of your insecurities on to me,'' he chastised sternly, almost able to hear her thoughts. ''You can't enjoy it properly if you're bothered by it.''

''I know, but...'' Darcy stammered helplessly.

''But nothing. It feels good, doesn't it?''

''Yes.'' _Very_.

''Then relax. Relax and let me make you feel better.'' His tone grew darker. ''I'll force you to come over and over again if I have to. And you _will_.''

''Yes, my lord.''

It felt good, saying that, good having her hands bound and relaxing into him, giving up control. Since Darcy had told him that she wanted to be his she'd felt something weirdly like relief all through her. She had no idea where this was all headed, but she welcomed it.

Loki watched her give in, with a sigh and an arch of her body, her wrists pulling on the bonds that held her. Once again that primal lust was beginning to take over; two sides of his being warred. The rational, calculating side, and the monster, which was pure animal. His cock ached furiously as he pleasured her, the taste of her feminine blood mixed with her arousal was acting as a strange aphrodisiac. He knew that if Darcy came she would feel better, the muscles in her womb would relax and she would get relief. He felt her begin to tremble with the first, then slipped a finger deep inside to press against her g-spot, setting her screaming.

Her body was so beautifully sensitive in this state; he did not release her, did not let her finish, just kept on forcing climax after climax out of her until she went utterly limp and there were tears in the corners of her eyes. By now he was so worked up that he needed to have her again.

Darcy was practically seeing stars at this point; she realized that she might have left her body for a moment, but even after this deluge of orgasms it still wasn't enough-no, she wanted him like before, locked deep inside of her.

The rope holding her hands together vanished and she was free. Temporarily. ''Is that better?'' Loki asked roughly. She managed a nod. Then she looked at him, wild-eyed, his dark hair falling into his face. Darcy stared and admired the lean pale muscle of his body, his sculpted chest and torso, lower to where his cock jutted up. ''Can I suck you?'' she asked.

''As much as I would love that,'' he told her, ''I just need to be inside of you.''

Almost instinctively, Darcy turned over, bracing herself on all fours. ''Such a good little girl,'' he praised, smoothing a hand over her hair. ''You know that your place is on your knees.'' He slid into her, growling at the warm slick around him, pulling on her hair as their bodies melded together. ''My sweet slut just loves being fucked by her king.''

''Yes, my lord,'' she sighed, clutching the sheets.

It happened again, creeping up like a cold tide from the back of Loki's brain. It seemed that she brought out the monster in him. Darcy felt it tooâ€" _yes_! screamed her mind as the transformation took place, as he lost control. His movements became rougher, his thrusts harder and she loved it. It made her feel...wanted. It was waves of sensation and the _urge:_ claim, fill, mate, _breed_.

He sensed the knot forming, he pressed in and it entered her, keeping them in place. Darcy took deep breaths in through her mouth, an icy haze forming over her mind. For a moment she forgot about being on assignment, forgot SHIELD and their apartment back home, forgot Netflix and music and every silly human worry. Forgot being Darcy Lewis. It was just she and him; base primal impulses. Two monsters amid a cold landscape, blood and need, need-hunger. Nothing more. A growl escaped her lips as she welcomed it, welcomed the oblivion, the claiming.

* * *

It went on like this for nearly two days, this cold heat in which they did virtually nothing but fuck until their bodies almost gave out. The fever finally subsided and sense returned slowly to Darcy's mind. Light came through the windows and she realized that she didn't know what day it was. She was marvellously sore. All of her muscles ached like she had run a marathon. Wincing, she checked her phone and saw that there were several missed calls from Fury asking for updates.

''What _happened_?'' she asked.

''I honestly don't know,'' Loki answered with a sigh, scrubbing a hand over his face.

''Am I your...mate now?''

''Yes, you are,'' he told her, the idea of it dizzying him. ''We've bonded, I suppose.''

''Well, let's figure it out later,'' Darcy said, trying to make her tone light, as if they were discussing what to have for dinner, ''we still have a ton of work to do and the boss isn't happy.''

Really, they didn't have a ton of work to do, they'd done a preliminary investigation of sorts, and it was more than enough to pass along to someone else. But something in Loki wanted to indulge her, and so he simply nodded.

''Let's go out to the island, talk to that waitress, see what she can tell us about Gerald Capras,'' Darcy suggested quickly. She wanted to get back to work, to something mundane. The past two days had been so intense and emotional that she hadn't even begun to process it all.

* * *

After a fairly short trip by ferry, they stood outside the door to a small cottage very close to the beach, shrouded by tall pine trees. Darcy raised her hand and knocked. A few minutes later, it was opened by a thin woman with long blonde hair and faraway eyes. ''Hello?'' she said.

Darcy plastered a congenial smile across her face. ''Hi. Are you Laura Vacola?''

The blonde nodded, her expression blank.

Darcy ventured on cheerfully and yet cautiously. ''I was hoping that we could ask you a few questions about your previous employer.''

''Are you a reporter?'' the woman asked, now frowning.

''No, I'm not. We're from the Health Department.''

A scoff came from her mouth. ''You are _not_. I know that. But I think I want to talk to you. The wind is blowing in a good direction today. Come in.'' She opened the door and allowed them inside. The place was sparse and depressing, also dark-there was only one small lamp turned on and no natural light, the woman had drawn curtains tightly over the windows.

''You know, they all said that I had imagined everything,'' Laura said. ''But I _didn't_. I know what I saw.''

Darcy sat down on the small sofa and Loki joined her. The woman remained standing, pacing. She seemed incapable of being still. ''What did you see?''

''Gerald's real face,'' she replied. ''There was something wrong with him.'' Laura paused momentarily. ''He wasn't human.''

''I see. What was he, then?''

''Something else. Made out of fire, angry fire. Hands and face, all flames.'' She gestured in the air.

Making a note of this, Darcy then asked, ''Can you tell me about his relationship with Veruca Bass?''

''She's his.'' Laura answered simply, resuming pacing, even more quickly.

''What does that mean?''

''Nobody else can touch her. Gerald doesn't like people going near what's his. Once he decides, that's it. One night, I came back after my shift was over. I had forgotten my iPod, left it on one of the shelves in the kitchen. And that was when I saw him with her. He looked right at me, I felt it burn, burn all along my skin, right down into the bones.'' She trembled a little.

''The other people, the cooks, the bartender-did Gerald hurt them too?'' wondered Darcy. ''Did he...burn them?''

Nodding, Laura said, ''Oh yes. Sometimes he doesn't need to touch them at all to do it. If he thinks hard enough, it can happen. Sometimes he means it, sometimes he doesn't, it's just an accident.'' She stared at the both of them for a long, ponderous moment, then said, ''You might be ok, you know. If you don't make him angry, that is. If you don't try to take anything from him. The ice will protect you.''

''What ice?'' asked Darcy, though she had a feeling that she knew.

''The ice inside of you. The blue ice. It's very pretty. But still,'' she wagged her finger at them as if they were misbehaving children, ''don't try to take anything. And stay away from his girl.'' She paused and then stepped over to the window, gingerly pulling the curtain aside the slightest bit and peeking out. ''The wind is changing. Not good weather for talking anymore. Best for you to leave.''

They thanked her for her time, and stepped out of the house, walking silently side by side down the path to the dock. The cold blue ocean was churning, waves hissing as they washed over the sand and stones.


	8. Chapter 8

''I want to talk to Veruca,'' Darcy decided, once she and Loki had returned to the hotel. It was nearly three in the afternoon, and she knew that the girl would probably be starting her shift, this was the time that she had seen her before.

''No,'' Loki told her. The trip to the island had left him unexpectedly anxious. His head was still spinning from the events of the past 48 hours and their potential implications, and he was also quite sick of this assignment. It could potentially be dangerous, and if what the waitress had told them was true, they would be better off leaving it, letting someone else take the risk.

Darcy pouted, and he narrowed his eyes. ''That look isn't going to work. I'm serious, Darcy. We're through here. We're going to write the report and then leave. We've done our part.''

''We _haven't_ ,'' she insisted stubbornly. ''There are still loose ends.''

''Well, then someone else can tie them up, if they can be tied at all.''

''So, we just go home?'' This seemed less than ideal to Darcy. Home would have mysteries now too, very deep and personal ones, and she would rather face the idea of a radioactive restaurant owner than the thought that she was now possibly mated to a very dominant Jotun, a thought that both thrilled and terrified her.

''Yes, we go home.''

''Fine,'' she said, slumping her shoulders in defeat.

The room was too quiet. Loki turned on the television. ''Let's watch a movie,'' he suggested, flipping through the channels. He landed, depressingly enough, on _Requiem For a Dream_.

Darcy gave him a look of horror. ''Seriously? This movie makes me want to kill myself.''

''It's not that bad,'' he insisted. ''I rather like that Aronofsky fellow.''

''Well, if you like his movies, we could always watch _Black Swan_. There's some sweet girl-on-girl action in that one,'' she told him.

''Really?''

Darcy nodded. ''Really. The main actress looks almost exactly like Jane.''

Loki made a face. ''You've lost my interest.''

''Change the channel, though. Seriously, or I'm gonna jab this pen through my eye,'' she told him, holding the ballpoint close to her face to illustrate her resolve in this matter.

He sighed and changed the channel with a flick of his fingers, thinking that his girl was getting just a little too bratty for her own good.

''That's _cheating_ ,'' she told him.

''No, it's not,'' he said through clenched teeth. Trying to please her was an exhausting pursuit, and he felt that he should not be nearly so indulgent. ''Here, there's a cartoon on this channel, it appears to be about faeries and pirates, would you rather watch that?''

Darcy quirked her head to the side and squinted at the TV. ''Possibly.''

''Well, you _can't_.'' He kept on flicking until they landed on a steamy older movie. ''Oooh, _Body of Evidence_!'' exclaimed Darcy, leaning forward.

''Is it good?''

''If you like watching Madonna drip hot wax on Willem Dafoe it is. Anyhow, it's better than _Requiem_.''

They left it on, neither one of them really paying attention. Loki brooded as he watched Darcy twisting a strand of hair around her finger over and over again. ''Your hair is a mess,'' he said with another sigh, picking up the brush off of the nightstand, motioning for her to come sit between his legs. He could tell that she was nervous about something, and this gave him an uncharacteristic rush of affection. She acquiesced, scooting over and and allowing him to brush the tangles out of her hair. It felt quite good, actually, the firm motions, the tugging at her scalp, the feel of his long fingers. It was soothing. ''Can you put it in a braid again?'' she asked shyly. ''Of course,'' he replied.

Once it was finished she found that she could not sit still any longer, the tension between them was just too much. ''I'm going to go out for a walk,'' she announced, picking up her notebook. ''I'll be back soon.''

Loki studied her, knowing immediately that she was lying. But still he nodded and said, ''alright.''

* * *

Darcy knew that she shouldn't disobey Loki, but she needed to be alone, to clear her head. She was changing, she realised. _Disobey_? Since when did she _obey_ anyone? ''When you agreed to it, oh so very willingly,'' her mind answered. Even now, Darcy knew that she would be punished later on. And maybe she wanted to be. Maybe she was testing her boundaries.

As she approached the restaurant, as luck would have it, Veruca Bass was standing around the side of the building, smoking a cigarette.

''Hey there,'' Darcy said, approaching her.

''Hi,'' Veruca replied quietly.

''Can I bum one?'' she asked, and the girl reached into her apron pocket for a pack of Marlboros, which she passed to Darcy, who removed one. She gave it back and Veruca handed her a lighter. ''Thanks,'' Darcy said, taking a drag, fighting a cough. She hadn't smoked since college.

''That's a really nice collar,'' she ventured, gesturing to Veruca's neck. The server looked surprised. ''You know what it is?''

Darcy nodded. ''My husband and I are sort of new to the BDSM scene, we're still working out the kinks, so to speak. We've talked about collaring before, but I'm still a little hesitant.''

''It's a big commitment,'' Veruca agreed.

''How long have you been with your dom?''

''A few years,'' she replied softly.

Pleased that the girl seemed to be opening up to her a little, Darcy continued, ''Is he good? You know, some of these guys don't really have what it takes. They like being in charge, being in control, but there's so much more than that.''

''He's...good,'' said Veruca, after considering the question for a moment. ''It's good for him. And for me. It helps him. Sometimes people just don't understand...'' she trailed off.

''You mean about the lifestyle?'' Darcy pressed, wondering at that statement.

''Yes. And other things. The reasons why people do what they do. Listen,'' she said abruptly, finishing her cigarette and grinding it out with the toe of her shoe, ''I gotta get back to work.''

''Sure. Hey, thanks for this. I'm Felicia, by the way.''

'Veruca.''

''Nice to meet you. Maybe I'll see you around.''

''Maybe,'' said Veruca, then she quickly walked away.

Darcy finished her cigarette and then wandered around the town for a little while. Then she sat alone on a bench and made some notes and then tried to write a chapter or two, but Violet and Mr. Lamont were quiet in her head today. Things were evolving in another direction. Every passage that she tried to write about her usual protagonists wound up with slashes through it, and soon she was writing an entirely different story, a continuation of the dream that she'd had the other night.

 _The king kept her bound; she had learned to be quiet and subdue her whimpers when the ropes tugged against her. He touched her all the time, to make matters worse, pinching her nipples, slipping his fingers between the ropes to fondle her._

 _''You've been so good, I know that you want me to let you go, but I can't. I've chosen you, you see,'' he told her as he played with her clit, forcing a small shudder from her. ''There is much you don't know about me, about what I am, what I need,'' the king continued. ''My kingdom needs an heir. And from the moment I saw you, I knew that I wanted you to provide it for me. But I am not a monster. I will give you a choice, little slut. I am going to remove the ropes and then I am going to fuck you, very hard and deep. If you can refrain from coming, your punishment will be complete and I will let you go. You can return to your village and all will go back to the way it was. But if you climax, I will spill my seed inside of you, and it will take root in your womb and you will give me an heir_.''

Darcy re-read this a few times and decided that her imagination was now a terrifying palace of unchained eroticism. It was like a filthy fairy tale, she reasoned. But she _liked_ it, and this was perhaps the most unsettling part. As she chewed on the cap of her pen, she couldn't help but think about what the server, Laura, had said: ''the ice inside of you. The blue ice. It's very pretty.'' This had been lingering in the back of her mind like an itch, making her wonder. It was too strange a statement to simply be a coincidence. But what did it mean? Perhaps Laura had some weird sort of clairvoyance and had picked up on the fact that Loki was a Frost Giant...but she had been mainly addressing Darcy. Maybe she had sensed their connection, maybe there was some kind of energetic lingering after their sex bender, some cold aura that remained inside of her afterward.

Or...Darcy read over what she had written one last time, strange thoughts spilling around in her mind like ink falling into water. All of the dirty talk that she and Loki had exchanged during their wild 'mating', when he expressed a fervent desire to get her pregnant. But that was impossible, Darcy reasoned. For one, she had been on her period, and while she knew that women could still get knocked up while on their period, it was more rare, and besides, Loki had told her that he always used some sort of magical birth control. And she trusted him. So...no, she told herself, that couldn't have been what Laura had meant. Still... she forced the thought back into some corner of her brain and jotted down a few more notes before getting up and heading to the hotel. It had been several hours, and Loki was probably wondering where she had gotten to.

* * *

In fact, Loki had followed Darcy, watched her talking to Veruca, his blood boiling at her defiance, though really he should have expected it. Now, he thought, now he would have to punish her. His palm itched at the thought. He returned to the hotel room and sat on the bed, calmly waiting for her.

''Did you have a nice chat with the waitress?'' he asked, the moment she walked through the door.

''Look,'' Darcy began, holding up her hands. ''I know that I lied to you, but I really wanted to do this, and I think I might have gotten some good information..''

He rose, drawing himself up to his full height, making himself look menacing as he spoke. ''You got _nothing_ '', he corrected. ''She admitted to wearing a collar and having a dom, and by the way, she didn't say anything about it being Gerald Capras. All of this is totally circumstantial. You have the word of a daft woman who is afraid of light and looks to the wind to decide if she should talk or not.'' Loki came to stand directly in front of Darcy, he gripped her chin firmly in his hand and forced her to look right at him. ''And even if Veruca and Gerald are in a relationship, what does it matter? She isn't being hurt in any way. I'll allow that it is possible that Gerald has some sort of strange ability to injure people through radiation. I'm not sure how he gained this ability, perhaps it was a mutation that occurred during his early childhood. But apparently, he only uses it on people who he feels are some sort of a threat. And if he were to see you talking to Veruca, he might begin to think that you are one. Don't take chances like this. You need to curb your compulsion to solve mysteries all of the time. This isn't a storybook.'' He released her.

In response to this chastisement, Darcy stuck out her lower lip at him and it made Loki want to bite it. He was feeling horny and aggressive once again and she was pushing all of his buttons. ''Don't make that face at me,'' he warned.

''I'm not,'' she said stubbornly, though she knew full well that she was. It was probably not wise to tease him, Darcy knew, but there was an intoxicating sternness on his face, and it made her feel hot and tingly. While she did admit to a small amount of irritation at this calling-out, she also liked the way that he seemed so authoritative about the matter.

''Yes, you are. When you pout at me like a little girl, I'm going to treat you like one,'' he told her.

She raised an eyebrow at this. ''Oh yeah?''

''Yes. And naughty little girls get spanked. Strip,'' he ordered, and Darcy slowly removed her clothes until she was standing in her bra and panties, deliberately taunting him.

''Did you hear me?'' he asked in a low, dark voice. ''Did I not make myself clear? Take off everything.''

''Yes, my lord,'' she said, unclasping her bra and dropping it to the floor. Then she slid the lace underwear down her legs and stepped out of it. Loki's eyes raked over her, the gaze hungry and possessive. ''Get onto the bed, tuck your head down and raise your ass,'' he ordered, aching to see her in that particular position. She complied, situating herself, breathing heavily. He contemplated using the riding crop, but he really wanted to feel his palm connecting with her curvy backside. He climbed up beside her. ''You were very naughty today,'' he began. ''You disobeyed me more than once and now you need to be punished, so that you can learn obedience.'' He ran his hand along her back, feeling her shiver, a feeling that he was coming to love, that soft trembling of expectation. ''I don't do this to be cruel. I do it because if you don't listen to me, I won't be able to keep you safe. This is the only way that I can teach you. Do you understand?''

''Yes, my lord,'' came her soft reply.

''I want you to count and say 'thank you, my lord' with each strike.''

''Yes, my lord.''

A breath, then Darcy felt the first blow, harder than any he'd given her before. But she loved it, it seared all through her. ''One,'' she counted. ''Thank you, my lord.''

Four more came next, equally as hard, and her skin burned as she thanked him. She was amazed at how good it had felt, at the realization that she could take more. She didn't mind this at all.

''Good girl,'' he praised, and she felt his hand slide between her thighs. ''And so wet. You love taking your punishment, don't you, sweet one?''

''Yes, my lord.''

After brushing teasingly at her folds, Loki pulled Darcy up into a sitting position. ''I saw you doing a bit of writing today,'' he told her, walking over and pulling the notebook out of her messenger bag, which was draped over a chair. He flipped it open and then handed it to her. ''Read it to me,'' he demanded. ''Out loud.''

He hadn't known exactly what she had written, but he gathered that it was something smutty by the way that her face flushed and she shifted somewhat uncomfortably. When she read the words aloud he nearly came in his pants. ''I see,'' he said, when she had finished. He had a flash of inspiration.''Let's try something.''

He snapped his fingers and suddenly Darcy found herself wrapped in gold rope. The pattern was very intricate, though not nearly as elaborate as some shibari designs that she had seen during her research adventures on the internet. It wound in a plunging V shape around her neck and wrapped tightly above and below her breasts, thrusting them forward, then wove down around her waist and looped between her legs so that two strands brushed against her clit every time she tried to move. With a smile, Loki turned her to face the mirror. ''Was this what you had in mind?'' he asked.

She managed a nod. This was very similar to what she had seen in her dream. Loki pulled on her long braid, winding it around his hand. ''I think I like this very much indeed,'' he said softly. ''You have a very lively imagination, as I've told you before. A very lively...filthy imagination. That mind of yours is filled with so many lovely, dirty thoughts. Desires. You want to be like this, bound and belonging to me. I can give you what you want.''

With his other hand, he ran his fingers over the rope, his cock twitching as he admired his handiwork. ''You are so beautiful. But I rather do think that you've been spoiled. Your hungry little cunt has had far too much pleasure the past few days, I think that learning delayed gratification will be good for you. I've spoken to Fury,'' he went on. ''Tomorrow will be our last day here. We are going to write our official report and then we are going to leave. As an added punishment for your disobedience, you will wear these ropes until we return home. Like the ones in your story, they are spelled so that you cannot come, no matter how desperately you need to. If you are a good girl, I will removed them when we get back, and you will be rewarded. Do I make myself clear, little one?''

''Yes, my lord,'' Darcy replied, her cunt tingling shamelessly at his words, the look of icy control on his face. ''My god, I've created a monster,'' she thought, a cocktail of excitement and fear spiralling through her blood.

''Good girl,'' he said again, tugging on her hair. A pleased, dark smile slid across his mouth like a shadow.


	9. Chapter 9

At first, Darcy thought that Loki might have been bluffing about their leaving, but apparently he was not; he stood firm in his decision, and though she did not agree, she decided to let him win this one. She had already resolved, however, to quietly continue her own remote investigation once they returned: there were still several things that she was too curious about, and she could certainly still utilize the tools at her disposal to slake that curiosity.

It was morning now, and their flight was leaving in about four hours. Darcy sat at the small desk in the hotel room, drinking a cup of rather terrible coffee while typing up their report of findings. Loki stood behind her, fixing her hair into a long, tightly woven braid. ''Remember what I told you?'' he asked.

''Keep it simple and stick to the facts,'' Darcy answered as her fingers tapped at the keys. Beneath her clothes, the rope harness lay across her skin, a constant reminder of what could happen when her imagination ran too wild. She tried to sit as still as possible; if she moved too much, the stimulation would increase and she would be left sweating and frustrated. Conserving her energy, and sanity, were necessary considering that she would have to do a bit of walking that day. Just the thought made her tremble, and so Darcy stalwartly focused on the task in front of her; keeping herself distracted might be the best way to get through this: so long as she could keep from thinking about certain...arousing subjects, she would be fine. The report was actually written fairly quickly while sticking to his guidelines, and she finished with the conclusion that further investigation was needed before the case could be closed, marking it as a Level 2 Potential Hazard.

''Level 1,'' he corrected, looking over her shoulder.

''Potential public health crisis and also potential biological weapons of unknown origin makes it a Level 2,'' she insisted, refusing to cave on the matter.

Loki rolled his eyes. ''Fine, but I think that's being a little alarmist.''

''Well, we'll just have to let the next investigation team be the judge of that,'' Darcy said, a bit snarkily. In response, he yanked at her hair. ''You did a good job,'' he admitted, scanning the document on the screen.

''Let's hope so,'' she replied with a sigh, attaching the file and hitting 'send.'

* * *

Before they went to the airport, they stopped to get coffee and then, to her great surprise, he took her to the beach one more time. Desperately trying not to think of what they had done in that particular location several days before, she spent several minutes taking pictures with her phone, fixing the scenery in her mind as well. Loki stayed back a bit, staring out at the water like he was trying to understand it. Darcy sighed and went over to him. She sidled close and slid an arm around his waist, then held the phone up. ''C'mon, smile real pretty for me,'' she said, stepping up on tiptoe to bring her face closer to his, fighting a moan as the motion caused the rope to hit her clitoris in a very interesting way. The face Loki made wasn't quite a smile, more of a cheeky smirk, but it was still attractive, Darcy had to admit. ''Our first selfie,'' she announced approvingly. Too bad nobody else would really get to see it. Such was the trouble of being in a relationship with a war criminal from another dimension. You couldn't really post about it on Facebook.

* * *

In the airport, Darcy snuck into the gift shop and purchased a small stuffed lobster. Sadly, her plans to squick him out with shellfish had been put on hold, though she definitely planned to continue them at a later date. Once they had boarded, she tried to relax, to calm herself with the thought that soon they would be home, the rope would be gone, and hopefully she could have a mind-blowing orgasm and a glass of wine.

As she sat waiting for takeoff, Darcy found herself wondering what they were going back to. Things had changed, that was certain, their relationship had turned a corner, heading to unknown places. When she shifted, she felt the rope rub against her clit yet again, and she bit her lip. Fuck, she couldn't wait to get this thing off...but at the same time, some dark and wild part of her did find the constant torturous stimulation oddly pleasurable.

''I'd like you to continue your story for me,'' Loki said, breaking her out of her would-be meditative state. Her story was the last thing that Darcy wanted to think about at the moment, but she was certain he knew that. This was all part of his devious plan. Looking at him, she noticed that the colour of his eyes had deepened, indicating building arousal. ''You have plenty of time to write a few more pages before we land. When we get home, I want you to read it aloud before I remove your rope. I'm rather liking these new characters.'' With a silky smile, he reached down and placed a hand on her knee, idly stroking her with his fingers.

''I...'' Her mouth had gone dry. She knew that she had no choice but to obey, or else he'd think of a worse punishment for her. But oh god, trying to write that story while in such a horny, amped-up state was going to be a hell of a task. ''Yes, my lord,'' she whispered, pulling out her notebook.

* * *

Loki was very pleased with her, the way Darcy was obeying him. He knew that she wasn't pleased with having to leave Maine and pass the assignment along up the ladder, but it was for her own good. He had a bad feeling about the restaurant, one that was only continuing to grow, and he was glad that they were returning home. He was also quite excited about some of the new things that they were doing rope had been an excellent ideaâ€"her idea. Really, she was the one who had decided the direction of their relationship, whether she was consciously aware of it or not.

The god looked over and watched Darcy writing, her lip between her teeth and her thighs squeezed together. Absently, she rocked her hips back and forth. He grinned. She was trying to get some relief, the poor thing, but she was only making it worse. It wasn't easy for him, either, knowing that she was so frustrated, bound and wanting, needing him so very badly.

* * *

The flight seemed extra-long to Darcy. She had done as he'd asked and written at least a partial conclusion to the story she had begun, and she felt a dizzying pride in this accomplishment. However, writing had gotten her quite hot and now walking was nearly unbearable as the rope rubbed mockingly at her overstimulated body. Her pussy was on fire and she was more than aware of the wetness running down the inside of her thighs. When they arrived back at the apartment, she threw her suitcase down and begged ''please!'' She was more than ready to fall on her knees if necessary.

Loki raised an eyebrow. ''Please what?''

''Please, my lord, I need to come!'' Darcy's voice was full of breathless pleading.

''I know you do,'' he replied in a smooth tone. ''I know this has been difficult, but you've done beautifully. Now I just need one more thing, remember?''

The story. She scrambled for her notebook.

''Why such a hurry?'' Loki asked, pulling off his jacket and slowly rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. ''Why don't you make yourself comfortable?''

She let out a cough of laughter at this. He was the only one who could make her comfortable, and he knew it, too.

''Darcy, you look flushed,'' the god said, giving her a long look, one full of dark, simmering heat. He took the notebook from her hands. ''I'll hold onto this. Take off your clothes. I want to see the rope against your pretty skin.''

She quickly removed her shirt and skirtâ€"she hadn't worn any sort of underwear because that was next to impossible and besides, he'd wanted her bare except for the harness. The cool air kissed her bare flesh and her nipples hardened instantly. She watched as the pupils of his eyes dilated further until they were nearly black; glancing down between his legs she could also see the thick outline of his hard cock.

''Sit down,'' he instructed, gesturing to one of the chairs in the small living room, ''and spread your legs apart.''

Feeling both liberated and self-conscious Darcy obeyed, sinking down onto the seat and splaying herself open for his perusal. Loki moved closer, until he was standing right in front of her. She knew that he could see how wet she was, how starved for him. ''Perfect,'' he whispered, with a smile that showed his teeth. ''Now,'' he handed her the notebook, ''read it to me.''

Darcy's voice wavered the slightest bit as she began, but she forced it to steady.

 _''The King removed the ropes at last and let her come to him. She stood before him in the throne room, naked and trembling. They were alone this time, but the girl found that this was not as much of a comfort as she expected it to be. ''Do you understand the rules, my pet?'' he asked. The young woman nodded. ''Yes, my lord.'' Her heart pounded and she was already drenched between the legs. She knew she was lost. She tried her best to think of anything beside the burning need to come. Her beautiful Master smiled and presented his massive cock to her, stroking it. ''Climb on top of me,'' he ordered. ''Take this into your pretty cunt.'' She raised her eyebrows; she had thought that this would happen differently. Then she realized that this was another one of his strange games, he wanted her to willingly debauch herself for him, to submit and accept his seed. The girl put her hands on the King's shoulders and threw her leg over his, positioning him at her entrance and slowly sinking down onto his prick, feeling him stretch her until she was fully seated. She'd never felt so full before.''_

As Darcy read, Loki sank to his knees and began to caress her, first stroking her breasts then finally he moved down and tugged gently at the rope against her clit, rubbing his fingers back and forth across it. She stopped reading and squeezed her eyes shut. ''I can't,'' she whimpered, her voice cracking.

He looked up at her. ''Yes, you can. Finish the story or I'll leave the rope on and you won't get to come.''

''No, please! Alright...'' Breathlessly, she continued.

 _''Ride,'' he instructed. She shifted up and down slowly, the motion sending jolts of pleasure through her. She was doomed. He pinched her nipple. ''I said ride,'' he hissed. ''Take it like the whore I know you are.''_

 _''Yes, my lord,'' she said, and gave in, knowing that she had no other choice. She began to rock up and down, harder, and a moan escaped him. ''That's a good girl, work my cock.'' She couldn't help it, it was as if her body was possessed with need, responding of its own accord, and soon she was bouncing eagerly on top of him, riding hard. ''Don't deny it, you want this. You want to be a good slut for your King.''_

Now his head was between her thighs, his tongue lapping at her, She dug her heels into the chair, fighting the urge to throw her legs over his shoulders. Holding the notebook, her hands shook. Darcy hadn't known it was possible to be so kept on the very brink of climax for so long. ''Oh, _Loki_ ,'' she gasped.

He paused. ''Keep reading. The longer you wait, the worse it will be for you.''

 _''Your pussy is soaking, your womb is ready to be filled. You're going to come, my girl, you are going to come so hard, and when you do, I'll shoot my seed deep inside of you. Tell me how much you want it, tell me you want my cum.''_

The movements of his tongue sped up, making her head reel.

 _''I...I want your cum, I want to be filled...I..'' It was beginning, she couldn't fight any longer; dark waves of pleasure came crashing and rolling over her. She bucked and writhed helplessly. ''Oh no, oh, please...I can't...I can't stop it...I...yes!'' Her body went wild, grinding down, taking him as deep as she could, her hips jerking. She was lost. He gripped her hair and thrust up his hips; he cried out and then she felt him erupting into her. He moved her hands to her waist and kept her pressed down firmly while spurt after spurt flooded her.''_

''That's it, that's all I have!'' She cried. ''Now please, my lord, _please_ let me come!''

''That was excellent, my girl,'' Loki said, climbing to his feet. ''I do love your filthy little mind, love it when you tell me all your dark desires.'' He snapped his fingers and the rope disappeared. Darcy wanted to cry with relief.

''Look what you've done to me,'' he continued, unzipping his pants and showing her his cock, thick and swollen. In an instant, before Darcy knew what was happening, he had lifted her and had her up pressed up against the nearest wall. The breath was pushed from her lungs and she saw stars as he slammed into her in one single motion, burying himself to the hilt. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders as he took her roughly. ''Yes, my lord!'' She came almost immediately, a few swift strokes was all it took. The force of her climax was overwhelming, a dizzying spasm of relief as her pussy clutched greedily at him; it did not taper off even as he kept fucking her, rather it went into a series of peaks and dips and ebbs, up and back again, again, again until finally he reached orgasm as well, gripping her hard as she felt the cool, familiar gush inside of her.

Hours later, after several more rounds, Darcy was finally satisfied. Laying beside Loki in bed she propped herself up on her elbow and looked down at him. ''Should we talk more about what this means?'' she asked, thinking not only of the rope, but of whatever odd mating had taken place during their trip. ''We're...our relationship, has changed. And I'm not sure where it's going.''

''Where would you like it to go?'' he asked.

She shrugged. ''That's the thing. I...I don't know yet where my boundaries are. This is new for me. What are your thoughts?''

Smiling, Loki said, ''Darcy, we haven't changed that much. We're still the same people we were before, just...exploring different parts of ourselves. It seems as though we're both discovering desires that we've always had, but didn't otherwise have a chance to act on, in a healthy way, or at all. You are discovering that you have a submissive side, and that you find certain types of pain, in certain contexts, to be pleasurable. You like being bound, dominated by powerful men with questionable morals, possibly because of the adrenaline rush from the sense of danger, of the unknown.''

''I guess, yeah,'' she admitted. ''Maybe that's why I like the knotting thing so much...when you, you know, turn blue.'' The memory made her throb: his icy length buried inside of her, feeling that big knot press in and swell, locking them together...

He nodded. ''You like not being able to move. Being held down while I fill you...and I'm wondering...'' Loki added, ''it seems that you like the idea of being impregnated by force.''

Oh yes, and there was _that_. Probably the weirdest thing she'd recently discovered about herself. ''It's not something I'd necessarily want in reality,'' explained Darcy, ''but in fantasy...something about it makes me hot.''

''I understand. I also find it very stimulating. This is something that we can share. I want you to belong to me. To trust me, to rely on me. I don't want you to change who you are...I want you to _become_ who you really are.''

''Me too,'' Darcy told him. ''And like I said before, I do want to be yours.''

Loki reached out and ran his fingers along her neck. ''Would you wear a collar for me? To show that you're mine?''

She swallowed and he felt the movement. ''Yes,'' she said. Somehow the thought of that kind of a commitment gave her a feeling of contentedness.

''Good.'' He smiled genuinely, seeming very pleased by this. ''Since you like to write, I want you to make a list of things that you would like to try, things that would be alright with you.''

''Ok,'' she agreed, reaching for her notebook, which was lying on the bedside table. Flipping open to a blank page, Darcy paused a moment to think and then wrote: '' _Shibari, cloth ties, handcuffs, blindfolds, spanking, riding crop_.''

Loki read it over, then nodded. ''What about clamps on these?'' he asked, squeezing one of her nipples. ''Maybe,'' she said, adding it. ''Choking?'' he wondered.

The thought of his big hands around her throat made Darcy's stomach flip and dive in a strange way, but there was still a small amount of apprehension lingering. ''Hmm...we'll put that in the 'maybe' column.''

''Anal sex?'' he wondered with a raise of his eyebrow.

She put the pen down and looked at him in horror. ''I'd _die_!''

He chuckled. ''No, you wouldn't, I assure you. But we'll work up to that. I think eventually you'll develop a taste for it.''

''Maybe... _eventually_ ,'' she stressed.

Loki sat in thought for a moment, then asked, ''Could I choose your clothes?''

Darcy wondered what sort of outfits he would be dressing her in. While she was admittedly curious, she wasn't ready to relinquish that much control just yet. ''Some of the time you can,'' she allowed. ''How about on the weekends?''

''Alright,'' he agreed.

''And I'll let you braid my hair whenever you want, how's that?''

''That'll do.''

Soon after they made their list, Darcy fell asleep beside him and dreamed. She dreamed of ropes around wrists and collars around necks, of kings and servants, of fiery explosions and blue, blue ice.


End file.
